Exclusive: Lammy suggests UK decision on Palestinian state likely in autumn
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has suggested that British policy on recognising a Palestinian state will be decided in the autumn, Foreign Office sources have told Middle East Eye.
Lammy’s remarks appeared to suggest the UK may be aligning its timetable with France, after President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would recognise a Palestinian state at the UN in September.
A UK minister told the Financial Times on Friday: “It’s very likely now that we will do the same thing. That is where we are heading.”
Two Foreign Office sources told MEE that in a meeting with civil servants on Wednesday, Lammy remarked he had “a feeling that in the autumn, this debate will settle in a particular place”.
They added that the foreign secretary also noted he was not the sole decision-maker in UK government on the topic.
Senior Labour figures told the FT that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was blocking UK recognition of Palestine in order to maintain close ties with the US which has put pressure on the London and Paris to drop recognition plans.
American officials quickly rejected Macron’s announcement on Thursday, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling the decision “reckless” and saying it only served Hamas propaganda and set back peace.
“It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th,” he posted on X.
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting for the UK to recognise a Palestinian state, with over 100 MPs reportedly signing a cross-party letter, organised by Labour MP and International Development Committee chair Sarah Champion, on Friday demanding that Starmer make the move.
In a report released on Friday, the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee also urged the government to immediately recognise a Palestinian state “while there is still a state to recognise”.
Committee chair Emily Thornberry told MEE that she would like to see the UK recognise Palestine alongside France.
Even if the move may be “only symbolic” in some ways, she said she believed it is an important first step to getting the UK “back into the ring and saying: ‘Right, let’s play our part.’”
“It has a power because they were the countries behind Sykes-Picot, the secret agreement that carved up the Middle East in the first place,” Thornberry said.
MEE has asked the Foreign Office for comment.
