STEPHEN Flynn has said both the UK Government and Labour have “gone quiet” on Gaza – a month on from the chaos in the Commons over Speaker Lindsay Hoyle's handling of the SNP’s ceasefire vote.
The SNP’s Westminster leader urged the UK Government to use its voice at the UN to press for an immediate ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
So far, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians.
The UK Government remains officially opposed to calling for a ceasefire – insisting one agreed now would not last.
At an urgent question in the Commons on Tuesday, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said the famine in Gaza was “man made” as the UK Government faced cross-party calls to put pressure on Israel to allow aid into the territory.
Marking a month since the chaotic scenes in the Commons in which the SNP’s ceasefire motion was hijacked by Labour – with Keir Starmer's party objecting to their opponents’ reference to Israel’s “collective punishment” – Flynn (below) said both the Government and the UK Parliament had “lost interest”.
He said: “The UK Government is failing the people of Gaza by dodging its responsibility to help secure an immediate ceasefire – while thousands of innocent men, women and children are killed.
“A month has passed since Westminster blocked a vote on the SNP motion for an immediate ceasefire, and Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer have gone quiet on the issue.
READ MORE: Palestine ambassador gives damning take on Westminster Gaza vote chaos
“The UK Government and Westminster parliament have lost interest and failed to take the action needed to help make an immediate ceasefire happen.”
Flynn called for Britain to use its “voice on the UN Security Council to call for a vote on an immediate ceasefire, and to end arm sales to Israel”.
He added: “More than 30,000 Palestinian men, women and children have now been killed and the people of Gaza are on the brink of famine during Ramadan.
“It's shameful that Westminster blocked a vote on the action needed to secure an immediate ceasefire – and since then, the UK Government has continued down the same failed path of equivocation, letting [Israeli prime minister] Benjamin Netanyahu off the hook and leaving Palestinians to suffer.
“How many more children and innocent civilians need to be shot, bombed or starved to death before Westminster finally changes course and chooses to act?”
Labour and the UK Government were approached for comment.
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