No Embargo, No Vote
05 April 2025 - SACC
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On Thursday 1 May elections will be held for 23 councils and 6 mayors across England. There will be a parliamentary by-election for Runcorn and Helsby on the same day. Voters need to say loud and clear that they won't vote Labour unless Keir Starmer announces an arms embargo on Israel.
If you are a voter in one of these constituencies, don't be distracted by the faults of Labour's opponents, or by assertions that Gaza isn't a local issue or by appeals to vote tactically to keep this or that party out. And don't give Labour your vote just because you like your local candidate, or because they are in favour of an arms embargo. Make sure they know that you need Keir Starmer to announce an arms embargo before 1 May.
Make sure they know your position NOW. Candidates and Labour branches need time to bring pressure to bear on the leadership.
Don't vote for Reform UK in any circumstances. They are racist. But don't consider voting Labour until Starmer announces an arms embargo.
The situation has changed since the 2024 General Election. Labour is now the ruling party. The question is no longer which party should run the country, but whether the ruling party can be made to listen to the people and stand up for international law.
If you live in Scotland or Wales, or in an area of England that isn't voting on 1 May, contact your MP urgently to demand an arms embargo. Labour is worried about the council elections. The party leadership is more likely to listen to you now, wherever you live, than it will be after 1 May.
Gaza is facing unprecedented catastrophe. Israel appears to be determined on a course of genocide, mass expulsion and annexation. There may be very little time left before this becomes a fait accompli. But the UK is still giving crucial support to Israel. And UK support for Israel is giving confidence to other governments to do the same.
There are other desperately important issues facing us in the UK. But none are more urgent than Gaza, and none are more important than establishing that we can hold our government to account.
No area of government policy is more resistant to democratic pressure than foreign policy. And there is no area of foreign policy that the UK Government is more committed to than its support for Israel. If we make this issue anything less than our top priority, we are certain to lose. But if we win, the door is open to make the Government step back from all its anti-democratic, anti-poor, anti-disabled, anti-immigrant policies.
The Palestine solidarity movement is the biggest mass movement in the country. Let's act like it, for once.
No embargo, no vote.
Photo: Discarded Labour party poster in the run up to the local council elections in England on Thursday 2nd of May 2024, Southampton, UK © Katharina Brandt / Alamy Stock Photo
