Sherwood Forest MP Michelle Welsh has pressed Foreign Secretary David Lammy for immediate recognition of Palestine following Prime Minister Kier Starmer announcement for UK to recognise state

Following news that the UK plans to officially recognise Palestine as a state, MPs have shared they thoughts.

This week, the Prime Minister Kier Starmer announced that the UK could take the step of recognising Palestinian statehood in September, ahead of a UN meeting.

It was also stated that the UK would only refrain from doing so if Israel agrees to a ceasefire, allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, and signs up to a long-term peace process.

While some critics have suggested that the move is simply gesture politics, it has received praise from others.

Among those to welcoming the plans is Sherwood Forest MP, Michelle Welsh, who has called for the “lives of innocent children at the heart of our foreign policy” and said she would press for “immediate recognition of Palestine”.

In a statement, the Ms Welsh said: “What is unfolding in Gaza is not a distant crisis, it is a humanitarian catastrophe that has become a war on children.

“Over half of Gaza's population are children. And yet it is these very children — babies, toddlers, and young girls and boys — who are bearing the brunt of this war. They are not collateral damage; they are the victims.

“We have seen newborns dying in incubators due to fuel shortages. We have seen infants crushed under rubble, and entire families wiped out in a single airstrike. We have seen videos of starving children, toddlers calling for their mothers, alone and hurt in makeshift hospitals.

“More than 17,000 children have been killed in Gaza in the past 21 months. This is not the action of a country defending itself, but the wilful destruction of a nation and a people.

“The suffering does not end there. One in five babies in Gaza is now born preterm or underweight, as malnutrition worsens and healthcare collapses. Nearly 11,000 pregnant women are facing famine. This is the lived reality of Palestinian children right now. It is not just heartbreaking - it is intolerable - and it demands action.”

The MP added: “I have urged David Lammy, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, to press for immediate recognition of Palestine and to place the lives of innocent children at the heart of our foreign policy.”

The Advertiser has also approached Newark MP, Robert Jenrick, who has previously showed avid support for Israel, but he has yet to share his view.