Angela Rayner vows to recognise Palestine as a state if Labour win election

Angela Rayner has promised a Labour government would recognise the state of Palestine if the party wins the upcoming general election.

The party's deputy leader made the comments as she spoke to voters in her Ashton-under-Lyne seat, in a video circulating on social media.

Rayner acknowledged that "people are angry" about humanitarian disaster unfolding in the Gaza Strip following Israel's invasion of the enclave after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack.

The clip, thought to have been from an event on Sunday, shows Rayner telling the audience that her party "supports" the International Criminal Court, after its chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced last week that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense, as well as three Hamas leaders over claims of war crimes.

Both Israel and Hamas hit back furiously at the allegations, with Netanyahu branding the move a "complete distortion of reality."

Rayner also warned supporters that a Labour government would have "limited" influence to end the suffering in Gaza, saying: "Qatar, Saudi Arabia, all of these people, we are all working to stop what's happening at the moment, we want to see that."

She added: "I promise you that's what we want to see. If Labour get into power we will recognise Palestine."

Her pledge comes as Labour faces a backlash from supporters and even some of its MPs over the its policy on Gaza.

Keir Starmer faced criticism from within his own ranks after intially refusing calls to support a permanent ceasefire.

He also got into trouble after appearing to suggest that Israel had a right to limit essential supplies to Gaza, including electricity and water in an interview on LBC in the days after October 7.

Sir Keir later clarified that while he believed Israel had a right to defend itself, but that did not mean it should withold humanitarian aid.

Israel invaded Gaza after Hamas, which runs the region, carried out its Oct. 7 terrorist attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others from southern Israel.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza triggered by the attack has killed some 36,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and sparked a humanitarian crisis.

Labour's position on the issue was partly blamed for its loss in February's Rochdale by-election to George Galloway.

Rayner has a majority of just 4,263 in her Manchester seat and her unequivocal vow on Palestine is step beyond what Sir Keir has been willing to commit to so far.

He has since called for a ceasefire, and said earlier this week that he wanted to recognise a Palestinian state if he were to win the keys to Number 10 in the weeks ahead.

But he included the caveat that the push for such a move would have to be made at the right time in a peace process.