Scottish Labour conference: Emergency motion on Palestine to be debated

Delegates in Glasgow for Scottish Labour conference will debate an emergency motion calling on the government to cease all arms deals with Israel and condemn Donald Trump’s intentions to “own” the Gaza Strip.

The motion, put forward by Cunninghame South CLP, calls on conference to condemn the remarks by the US President and that his intention to expel Palestinians from Gaza would “amount to ethnic cleansing in an area subjected to an ongoing genocide”.

It calls on Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and the Minister for International Development Anneliese Dodds that such a move would be “totally unacceptable” and that the UK will do “all it can to support the Palestinian people in their unalienable right to self-determination in their homeland”.

It also demands the UK case all arms trades with Israel “as a result of this and the genocidal actions of Benjamin Netanyahu”.

The emergency motion is set to be debated tomorrow afternoon alongside motions on the economy.

Three other emergency motions, put forward by Unite, GMB Scotland and Glasgow Kelvin CLP, were ruled to be out of order and determined to not cover an emergency that had arisen after the closing date for motions by the Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC).

READ MORE: Joani Reid MP: ‘Here’s why Scottish Labour shouldn’t despair at the polls’

The CAC report, seen by LabourList, also said that a motion put forward by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), which called for a wealth tax to fund public services in Scotland and an end to the two-child benefit cap, has been ruled out of order as it “covered more than a single subject”.

The Scottish Labour conference begins today at the Scottish Event Campus, with the first day of proceedings set to see debates on the Cass Review, reversing the decision to means test the winter fuel allowance, and securing a better financial settlement for public services from the Scottish government – including replacing council tax and replacing it with “a fairer system of local taxation”.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray will also address conference later today.

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