MPs' pressure grows to recognise a Palestinian state after Macron call

The Foreign Office is under pressure from Labour MPs to recognise a Palestinian state if Emmanuel Macron, the French president, presses ahead with plans to recognise Palestine at an international conference set for June.

- Patrick Wintour

France is co-chairing the conference at the UN in New York alongside Saudi Arabia, and Macron has said the conference must be a decisive moment.

Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said the time was coming for Britain to recognise Palestinian statehood. "We need to do it with friends," she added. "We need to do it with the French. There are a lot of other countries sitting back and waiting."

She added that if the west did not act soon, there would be no Palestine left to recognise.

Chris Doyle, the chair of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), also backed the measure, saying that such a step by two permanent members of the UN security council would send a powerful message. If Britain did not act soon it might be too late since Israel was clearly intent on the effective annexation of the West Bank.