Starmer said planning to recognize Palestinian state after Trump’s UK visit

The Times reports that British PM is under massive pressure from Labour to grant Palestinian statehood recognition before UN General Assembly, when France and others plan to do so

By ToI Staff 18 September 2025, 12:51 am

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British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and wife, Lady Victoria Starmer, arrive for the Beating Retreat military ceremony at Windsor Castle, England, on September 17, 2025, on day one of US President Donald Trump's second state visit to the UK. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP, Pool)

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer plans to formally recognize a Palestinian state after US President Donald Trump completes his state visit to the United Kingdom, British media reported Wednesday.

The unsourced report by The Times said that Starmer plans to recognize Palestine even before several countries, led by France, will do so at the United Nations General Assembly summit in New York next week, amid concern over the ongoing war in Gaza.

The Times reported that Starmer is under massive pressure from within his Labour party to make the move, but will hold off on doing so until Trump leaves so that the issue doesn’t dominate a joint press conference planned for Thursday.

Britain’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The US is deeply opposed to the move, saying it would be a reward for the Hamas terror group in the wake of the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned countries considering recognizing Palestinian statehood during the General Assembly that Israel could take “reciprocal” action in the form of annexing the West Bank.

Palestinian supporters gather during a protest against Israel outside Downing Street in London, September 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Starmer announced in July that the UK would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government took substantive steps to end the war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and committed to a viable peace process.

The decision was swiftly condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared the move “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism.” Meeting Starmer in London last week, President Isaac Herzog said Britain’s “stated intention to recognize a Palestinian state at this time would in no way help bring the hostages home, help the Palestinians, or help bring an end to the conflict” but only “embolden extremists across the Middle East and beyond.”

In June, the UK sanctioned far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich and froze trade talks with Israel. And last month, the British government announced a ban on Israeli defense firms attending a major London arms fair.

Earlier this week, the Royal College of Defence Studies, one of Britain’s most eminent military academies, banned Israelis from enrolling from next year, due to the ongoing war.

Israel has found itself increasingly isolated on the world stage, as the 23-month-old war sparked by the Hamas-led October 2023 attack grinds on in Gaza. Terror groups in the Strip still hold 48 hostages, of whom only about 20 are believed to be alive.

Reuters contributed to this report.