Labour Party conference opens with message that 'change is possible'

Israeli settlers warned they could face UK sanctions over intensifying violence in occupied West Bank

Labour’s party conference has opened with British Trade Minister Douglas Alexander telling The National that “change is possible” to renew the country's standing in the world.

Mr Alexander, who had just returned from a trade mission to Saudi Arabia and Oman, said the conference in Liverpool is a “big opportunity for us to set out our agenda in government and to make the case that change is possible”.

He spoke after Foreign Secretary David Lammy had warned Israel against growing settler violence in the occupied West Bank, and said he was keeping sanctions against Israelis “under close review”.

Labour's trade minister Douglas Alexander. Photo: Thomas Harding / The National

Doomed Britain

While Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made significant changes both at home and in foreign policy, the conference opened against the backdrop of brewing ethics scandals and unease over the “doomed Britain” picture Labour has painted since coming into office.

Trying to strike a more upbeat line to his refrain that “things will get worse before they get better” and that next month’s budget will be “painful”, Mr Starmer vowed people will be “better off” under Labour.

“Changing the country is not like flicking a switch,” he said. “I’m not going to pretend that everything is fixed by Christmas.”

In a keynote speech at the Liverpool conference on Tuesday, Mr Starmer is expected to lay out his plans and set a new tone for Britain's foreign policy.

Settler sanctions considered

That has been most dramatically reflected in Britain’s changed stance towards Israel, with Labour imposing a partial arms ban, renewing funding to the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees and not opposing International Criminal Court proceedings against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Lammy applied further pressure on Israel, saying he is “deeply, deeply worried by the growing violence and settler violence that we see in the West Bank”.

Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, on the opening day of the UK Labour Party annual conference in Liverpool. Bloomberg

“I’m not announcing further sanctions today, but that is kept under close review,” he added.

He contended that Britain had “never lost sight of the end goal”, which was “an irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution”.

“It is only once Palestinians and Israelis have the same fundamental rights: sovereignty, security and dignity in their own independent, recognised states that we can achieve a just and lasting peace for all.”

But Mr Lammy signalled that Britain was unlikely to impose a full arms ban, pointing out that Israel needs some arms licences to fight the Houthis in Yemen and other Iran-backed groups in the region.

“I think that would be a mistake,” he said. “It would lead to a wider war and an escalation that we here in the UK are committed to stopping.”

Ethics issues

The conference is emerging as the first big political challenge for Labour, with supporters questioning some of its policies and growing unease over emerging reports of free gifts its leaders have received.

Mr Starmer has received more than £100,000 in free Arsenal football tickets, as well as clothes, while it was also reported on Sunday that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner had been lent a New York flat for a holiday.

The prime minister has vowed not to take any more gifts, and the extent of the ethics scandals remains far from those faced by the previous Conservative government.

In the coming days, Mr Starmer will fight hard to keep his policies on track, knowing that hard choices will be needed to turn the country around.