Andy Burnham has apologised for Labour’s initial response to Israel’s military action in Gaza, saying the party “didn’t get it right” and needs to do better under his leadership.
Burnham, who is expected to become prime minister later this month, was one of several high-profile Labour figures who were calling for a ceasefire in Gaza by late October 2023 – which at the time put him at odds with Sir Keir Starmer.
“Labour’s initial response to the treatment of Gaza caused huge hurt. We got it wrong and I am sorry for that,” he wrote on social media.
In a video message, the Makerfield MP also reiterated his condemnation of the 7 October Hamas attack, as well as antisemitic attacks in the UK.
During the early weeks of the conflict, Sir Keir had backed humanitarian pauses to help aid reach Gazans but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.
Compared to a formal ceasefire, humanitarian pauses tend to last for short periods of time, sometimes just a few hours, and are implemented purely with the aim of providing support as opposed to achieving long-term political solutions.
“I know that many people feel that at the start of Israel’s military action in Gaza, my party didn’t get it right, and I am sorry about that,” Burnham said in his video message on Thursday.
“The response has too often not been good enough. We need to do better.
“The UK was too slow to call for a ceasefire.”
In the early weeks of the conflict, Sir Keir was also criticised for an interview he gave to LBC on 11 October in which he was asked whether it was “appropriate” for Israel to cut off the supply of power and water to Gaza.
“I think that Israel does have that right,” he said. “Obviously everything should be done within international law, but I don’t want to step away from the core principles that Israel has a right to defend herself.”
A spokesman for the Labour leader later said he had only meant to say Israel had a general right to self-defence.
Sir Keir’s stance on a ceasefire at this time was also in line with that of the previous Conservative government, led by Rishi Sunak.
In February 2024, Labour called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza for the first time since the outbreak of the conflict the previous October.
Burnham in his video did praise several policies Labour had enacted in government – the recognition of a Palestinian state, placing sanctions on Israeli ministers and settlers, and restrictions on arms licences to Israel.
But he said more needed to be done to “strengthen our approach”, to “ensure the Israeli government adheres to international law and to keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive”.
He accused Israel of violating the US-brokered ceasefire agreement and said there had been a surge of settler violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government is clearly attempting to make a two-state solution impossible,” he said, calling for further sanctions and measures to ban trade in goods with illegal settlements in the West Bank.
The former Greater Manchester mayor has received praise from several Labour MPs.
Wes Streeting, Sir Keir’s former health secretary who was seen as a possible challenger to Burnham until he endorsed him last month, said on X: “This is extremely welcome.”
Meanwhile, Rupa Huq, MP for Ealing Central and Acton, said on X: “High time this is acknowledged and glad something will be done about it”.
Several UN reports have accused the Israeli government of committing war crimes which amount to genocide in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly denied all such allegations.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
