‘The hardest day Israelis have ever experienced in their lifetimes’
The Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has declared Israel is at war, after Hamas launched attacks on an unprecedented scale. It is the biggest escalation in the conflict since the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago, and Israel has already launched retaliatory strikes in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely described ‘terrorists going from one house to another and brutally targeting children’. Dozens of hostages have been taken, and one British citizen, Jake Marlowe, is missing after a Hamas attack on a music festival.
Starmer – ‘a terrorist attack, for which there is no justification’
When asked to comment on the conflict, the leader of the Labour Party was unequivocal in his condemnation of the Hamas attacks, calling them ‘an appalling act of terrorist’ which ‘needs to be called out across the world’. He also said that Hamas have deliberately ‘pushed back the prospect of peace agreements’.
‘I’ve had a lot worse thrown at me in my life’
As the Labour Party conference kicks off, Starmer was shown More in Common research showing what people think of him. Words like ‘nothing’ and ‘not sure’ featured prominently, although there were some more positive associations as well. Starmer suggested that he had successfully rehabilitated Labour after its worst election loss since 1935, and that the party conference was now his opportunity to properly set out Labour’s plans to voters.
What if Labour don’t get economic growth?
Starmer has said economic growth is his central priority, and that without it, there would be no more money for public services. Victoria Derbyshire repeatedly tried to ask him what they would do if growth didn’t come. Starmer said that wouldn’t happen – he was ‘confident, because they have a strategic plan’. Derbyshire pointed out that growth had been slowing down in general among developed countries for years, but Starmer claimed that some changes could be made very quickly.
‘Labour is too timid’
Some critics on the left say the Labour Party isn’t doing enough to differentiate itself from the Tories. Trevor Phillips asked Unite the Union head Sharon Graham if she was confident that an incoming Labour government would be the sort of government she wanted. Graham wasn’t satisfied with Labour’s cautious approach, and told Phillips she ‘wants a Labour government that will make a real difference’. She argued for bold policies to help working people such as the nationalisation of energy.
Transport project confusion
A document promising specific local transport projects funded by cancelling part of HS2 was released by the government and then deleted. Victoria Derbyshire asked the Transport Secretary Mark Harper to clarify whether these projects would definitely still be happening. Harper claimed the document was just giving ‘examples of the sorts of things’ money could be spent on, and said the important thing was money was being given to local authorities, who could then decide on the best way to spend it.
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