Labour MPs lobby Keir Starmer to allow Gaza families into UK

Prime Minister said Palestinians would no longer be allowed to use a scheme intended for Ukrainians

Palestinians in Gaza sit around a fire in the rubble of destroyed buildings during the Israeli offensive. Reuters

Keir Starmer has been urged to allow Palestinians to come to the UK after he promised to close a loophole that allowed a family from Gaza to enter on a scheme intended for Ukrainian refugees.

The UK’s Prime Minister has been asked by MPs in his ruling Labour Party to clarify what he meant when he made his pledge in the House of Commons, after a judge’s widely criticised decision allowed the family of six to come to the UK. The 15 Labour MPs were joined by others from the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, the SDLP, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru, as well as the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause who now sits as an independent.

John McDonnell and Apsana Begum, two of the Labour MPs who remain suspended over the two-child benefit cap rebellion, are also signatories. In their letter they say: “Basic humanity shouldn’t be selective. If Britain supports safe routes and medical evacuation for some, why should it be any different for families fleeing conflict in Gaza?

Keir Starmer told the House of Commons he would close the loophole that allowed the Palestinian family to come to the UK. PA

“We would be grateful if you could clarify what ‘loophole’ in the Ukraine Family Scheme the Home Secretary is looking at closing as a result of the application by a Palestinian family, and what the justification for taking such an action would be.”

The family acknowledged that it did not qualify under the Ukraine scheme but chose that route to submit its details to the British immigration system. Although initially rejected as ineligible by the UK's Home Office, the family, living in Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, managed to have the case heard by a tribunal that considered European human rights laws rather than the Ukraine issue.

The father's brother has lived in the UK since 2007 and the family won an appeal to be reunited with him under human rights laws protecting “family life”. Judges at the appeal said the parents and their four children were living in “extreme and life-threatening” conditions in the refugee camp, after their home was destroyed by an air strike during Israel's assault on the enclave.

Government lawyers had argued that granting the family reunion would be “a leap”, given that there is no resettlement scheme for Palestinians equivalent to the 267,000 visas granted to Ukrainians. However, the immigration court dismissed concerns that its decision would open the “floodgates” for refugees from other war zones to move to Britain.

Mr Starmer told the House of Commons the decision was "wrong" and said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper "has already got her team working on closing this loophole". He was responding to a question from Kemi Badenoch, the leader of Britain's Conservative opposition, who had called for “radical changes to human rights laws” to prevent courts deciding who can enter the UK. “We cannot have judges simply making up new schemes based on novel and expansive interpretations of human rights law,” she said.