Over a thousand UK councillors sign pledge to uphold Palestinian rights
Activists from Youth Demand block Euston Road at Kings Cross station during the demonstration in London on 2 August, 2025
Imran Mulla reports in Middle East Eye on 24 February 2026:
More than a thousand local councillors have signed a pledge to “uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people” and ensure their councils are not complicit in “Israel’s violations of international law”.
Of the councillors who signed the pledge, 383 are from the Green Party, 359 are from Labour, 111 are from the Liberal Democrats and 41 are from the Scottish National Party.
Another eight councillors were from Your Party, five were Conservatives and many were independents.
The pledge was launched by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which organises national pro-Palestine marches in London, and was supported by the Palestinian Youth Movement Britain, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, The Muslim Vote and the British Palestinian Committee.
The pledge has been condemned by the Israeli embassy as a “disgraceful effort at intimidation”.
Labour MP Richard Burgon told Sky News on Monday: “I think that so many Labour councillors have been so keen to sign the Palestine pledge as councillors because it puts on record that support for Palestine and distinguishes them from the position taken by the leader of the Labour Party”.
The pledge comes after a senior Labour minister, Communities Secretary Steve Reed, warned Labour-administered councils in January that they could be sued for boycotting Israeli businesses. Reed pointed local councils to government guidance published in 2016 which prohibits procurement boycotts against Israeli firms and firms which trade with Israel.
Councils boycotting complicit companies
Multiple local authorities in the past year have voted to boycott companies that are complicit in Israeli war crimes, arm Israel or benefit from its occupation of Palestinian territory.
In March, Oxford City Council passed a motion supporting the BDS movement against Israel, citing International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings.
Labour-run Cumberland council also said it would withdraw investments from companies supplying weapons to Israel.
In December, Labour-run Newcastle council passed a motion committing to review its financial ties with companies “complicit with the genocide and/or illegal occupation” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
And the pension funds of numerous councils – including Islington, Lewisham, Wandsworth and Caerphilly – have excluded companies on the United Nations list of businesses involved in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Zoe Garbett, a Hackney Green councillor who signed the pledge, said: “I think that this is really important to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people and to make sure that we can make ethical investments.” She added that people “want to see their council representing them on a national level. We know that most people really want to see an end to the genocide in Gaza, and an end to wars and conflicts all across the world, and they want to see their local representatives standing up for them.”
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