SIR KEIR STARMER’S Gaza crisis deepened at the weekend as former Labour councillors and independent parliamentary candidates united to offer a challenge to the Labour leader.

The “No Ceasefire No Vote” conference in London brought together about 200 councillors, parliamentary candidates and supporters to prepare a broad alternative to Labour and to oppose its backing for Israel’s genocide in Palestine in particular.

Enthused by George Galloway’s Rochdale by-election victory, the councillors and candidates, most of whom have broken with Labour over Gaza, also pledged to fight Islamophobia and to defend the democratic rights threatened by PM Rishi Sunak.