UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to confirm Britain’s vote to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN, defying U.S. opposition and citing growing humanitarian concerns in Gaza.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is preparing to announce that the United Kingdom will vote to recognize an independent Palestinian state at next week’s United Nations General Assembly, a move likely to strain ties with Washington.
The announcement is expected within hours of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s departure from Britain on Thursday. Starmer had first signaled support for recognition in July, contingent on Israel agreeing to a cease-fire with Hamas, though such conditions remain unmet.
Trump, while opposing recognition, played down the rift with Starmer. “I’m not going to take a position; I don’t mind him taking a position,” he said in July. “I’m looking to getting people fed right now. That’s the No. 1 position, because you have a lot of starving people.”
Vice President JD Vance, however, was explicit. “We have no plans to recognize a Palestinian state,” he said in August, citing the absence of a functional government.
Starmer’s push reflects mounting domestic and party pressure amid intensifying Israeli military operations in Gaza. He argued in July that “the very idea of a two-state solution is reducing and feels further away today than it has for many years.”