More than 1,000 UK councilors sign Palestine pledge as local polls loom | Israel-Palestine conflict News

More than 1,000 councilors in England have signed a pledge in support of Palestinians ahead of local elections in May.

The Councilor Pledge for Palestine, launched in December by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, calls on politicians to take action to uphold “the rights” of Palestinians, “stand up to Israel for its crimes of genocide and apartheid” and ensure that their councils are “not complicit.”

According to the campaign, 1,152 sitting councilors signed the pledge. Of these, 387 are from the Green Party, 375 from the ruling Labor Party and 115 from the Liberal Democrats.

Five councilors from the Conservative Party are among the signatories, along with hundreds more from the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, the Scottish Greens and local parties, or serving as independents. No candidates from the far-right Reform UK signed the pledge.

The initiative, which will open to all candidates in March, is supported by Vote Palestine, a grassroots campaign coordinated by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and backed by the Palestinian Youth Movement Britain, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, The Muslim Vote and the British Palestinian Committee.

It aims to pressure councils to adopt policies aligned with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, including diving pension funds from companies linked to Israeli arms production.

Local government pension scheme funds, administered by councils, invest more than 12.2 billion pounds ($16.5 billion) in companies complicit in breaches of international law, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Thirty-one councils passed motions or issued statements supporting the sale of pension funds, the campaign say. It notes that 46 percent of voters back divestment, compared with 14 percent who oppose it.

Supporters describe the movement as inspired by the anti-apartheid campaign of the 1980s, when more than 100 local authorities Banned South African goods from their offices and schools, and others ended pension fund investments in companies with South African subsidiaries.

Corbyn backs campaign

Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn has endorsed moves to make Palestine a central issue in the 2026 local elections. In a post on X, he wrote: “Let’s make the Palestinian issue non-negotiable in this election.” He called on campaigners to back a “people’s pledge”, whereby supporters pledge to support only the council candidates who have backed Vote Palestine.

Signatories to the “candidate pledge” include Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali and Trafford councilor Hannah Spencer, a by-election candidate in Gorton and Denton; Matthew Brown, Labor Leader of Preston City Council; and Ayoub Khan, an independent MP and Birmingham councillor.

The local elections in May are widely seen as a litmus test for the Labor government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has suffered falling opinion polls since being elected in 2024. Critics inside and outside the party have linked some of the dissatisfaction with his handling of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

With every council seat in London – traditionally a Labor stronghold – up for election, campaigners believe Vote Palestine could influence results in now contested areas.

In Hackney, north London, where Labor currently has a large majority, the party faces a challenge from the Greens and the Independent Socialists. All six of the parish’s Green councilors signed the pledge, compared to three from Labour.

“We have all seen the devastation caused by Israel’s genocide in Gaza, but no one felt it more deeply than the Hackney residents I spoke to who lost family members in Palestine,” said Zoe Garbett, a Green councilor in Hackney who is running for mayor.

“The council took a stand against South African apartheid, and now it’s time we take a similar stand for the Palestinians.”

Left-wing figures within Labor have also endorsed the pledge. Richard Burgon, Labor MP for Leeds East, said: “Keir Starmer’s refusal to stand up for the rights of the Palestinian people is wrong and has already hurt Labor badly at the polls. We saw it in the last general election, and I fear we will see it again in May’s local elections.”

He added that the government “must listen” to members who are “demanding action against Israel’s genocide and war crimes and do so before more damage is done and we lose more hard-working, principled councillors.”

Pro-Palestinian candidate on the run from prison

The election campaign comes amid legal challenges surrounding the Palestine Action activist group. Earlier this month the Supreme Court rule that a decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism legislation was illegal, but the ban remains in place after the Home Office was granted an appeal to challenge the decision.

One of its alleged members, Amu Gib, is standing as a candidate for Islington Council in London’s Finsbury Park while in prison. I did went on a hunger strike last year for 49 days.

Gib was arrested by counter-terrorism police in connection with an alleged break-in at RAF Brize Norton, the UK’s largest air force base. The trial is ongoing. The charges relate to allegations that planes used to support Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza were vandalized.

Gib also took part in the Prisoners for Palestine hunger strike, which ended after the government decided not to award a contract worth 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) to Elbit Systems UK, an arms company.

In a statement sent from prison, Gib told Al Jazeera that they are running on a platform that calls for “no more endless wars,” as well as action on housing and food poverty. If elected, campaigners say they will be the first prisoner to be elected to public office in the UK while in prison since Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands won a parliamentary seat in 1981.

Dan Iley-Williamson, a political organizer at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: “The mass movement for Palestine – which brought millions onto Britain’s streets – is not going away. Vote Palestine will take our demands into the May elections and deliver a message to those seeking office: If you want our votes, stand up for Palestine.”