KEIR STARMER has finally been forced to resign — brought down in no small part by his shameful support for Israel’s crimes. Whoever comes next must break with this moral bankruptcy, or they will face a similar fate.

Starmer has been rightly driven from office following disastrous elections last month. For millions of voters, Palestine was on the ballot when they went to the polls. Despite the seats gained by Reform, Labour lost many more votes to centre or left-wing parties than to parties of the right.

In England, YouGov found that 54 per cent of Labour’s 2024 general election voters had abandoned the party with four in five of those lost voters going to centre or left-wing parties, including a whopping 40 per cent of them to the Greens. A similar picture pertains in Scotland while in Wales, Labour shed an eyewatering 70 per cent of its 2024 tally, most of it helping to power Plaid Cymru into government in Cardiff Bay.

One thing that the SNP, Plaid Cymru, Greens, Liberal Democrats, and many local independent candidates had in common was a critical stance towards the government’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Research conducted by Opinium on behalf of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, found that more than half of voters who switched from Labour to one of these parties cited Palestine as a reason for their decision.

By large margins, these ex-Labour voters want the government to take tougher measures against Israel: 82 per cent favour stronger action to prevent Israel committing genocide in Gaza; 80 per cent back a ban on all arms sales to Israel; 75 per cent want to ban trade linked with Israel’s illegal occupation; and 67 per cent support councils divesting pension funds from companies complicit in Israel’s crimes.

Instructively for Labour, 70 per cent of these lost Labour voters said they would take a more favourable view of the party if Starmer’s replacement took stronger action against Israel, such as by imposing sanctions.

There is only one way that will happen. We must keep up the pressure on the government no matter who is in Downing Street.

On Saturday July 18, we will march for Palestine in London. Right now, it looks likely that will be the very day after Andy Burnham takes charge as Labour Party leader.

If not, it will be the start of a leadership election that will choose a new prime minister. Either way our message will be clear: dump Stamer’s policy on Palestine or suffer the same consequences.

The same weekend will mark two years since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judged Israel’s occupation to be unlawful and found Israel guilty of breaking the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid. Delivered just a fortnight after the election that swept Labour into office, the same ICJ ruling called on other states, including Britain, to cease all actions that aid or assist these grave violations of international law.

Disgracefully, under Starmer, the British government has still not even issued a formal response. Instead, it allows the arms trade with Israel to continue as well as trade that facilitates Israel’s illegal settlements and other ongoing crimes against Palestinians.

Just last week, an independent UN inquiry confirmed that Israel continues its genocide through “deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian children” as part of a “strategy to destroy the future of the Palestinians in Gaza.”

A decisive break with Starmer’s toxic legacy must start with recognising the reality of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza — as Labour Party conference overwhelmingly did last year with the backing of Labour Party members and all of its trade union affiliates. But statements alone are clearly not enough.

An incoming leader must immediately introduce a total ban on trade with Israel’s illegal settlements and all other trade that aids or assists Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, as demanded by the ICJ. They must impose comprehensive sanctions on Israel, including a full arms embargo, and reverse the authoritarian use of public order and anti-terror legislation to suppress protest in support of Palestinian rights.

Breaking with Starmer’s shameful record is not just a moral imperative for the next Labour leader, it is also essential if the party is to have any hope of winning back the swathes of support it has lost under his leadership. Given that one likely consequence of a failure to do so is a government led by Nigel Farage, the Palestinian people’s determined struggle for freedom and justice matters not only for Palestinians. As ever, it matters to us all.

Peter Leary is deputy director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Join the next national march for Palestine, 12 noon, Saturday July 18, central London (location tbc).