Keir Starmer shares Europe-led Gaza peace plan with Donald Trump

Sir Keir Starmer has presented a European-led peace plan for Gaza to Donald Trump, during a meeting in Scotland with the US president.

It follows a call with leaders of France and Germany over the weekend after US-led peace talks broke down last week, Downing Street said.

An emergency UK cabinet meeting will be held this week to discuss the plans as well as aid efforts in Gaza, after warnings of mass starvation in the territory.

It comes amid renewed international and domestic pressure on the prime minister to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood.

Downing Street has not given details of the peace plan, promising the “next steps” would be set out after this week’s cabinet meeting, a date for which is yet to be confirmed.

Speaking earlier, a spokesman for Sir Keir said the proposals would also be presented to allies, including Arab states, over the coming days.

In an article over the weekend, the prime minister likened the plans to the proposed “coalition of the willing” to support any potential deal to end the war in Ukraine.

It comes after the US and Israel withdrew their negotiating teams from Qatar on Thursday, with Trump saying Hamas “didn’t really want to make a deal” and Israel saying it would look to “alternative options” to free hostages.

On Monday, Sir Keir’s spokesman said the UK, France and Germany were working on proposals to “deliver immediate relief to those on the ground”.

The plans “build on the collaboration to date” between the three countries and would also “set out a pathway to peace and a sustainable route to a two-state solution”, the spokesman added.

However, Trump suggested that getting aid into Gaza is his focus, before discussing future peace plans.

“Before we get to phase two, which is what’s going to happen afterwards, we want to get the children fed,” he told reporters during his meeting with Sir Keir.

Sir Keir’s spokesman also told reporters the Palestinian right to statehood was “inalienable”, and it was a “question of when, not if” the UK will agree to recognition.

It comes after 255 MPs signed a letter calling for the government to immediately recognise Palestine as a state – up from 221 on Friday.

This includes 147 Labour MPs – more than half the party’s backbenchers.

The letter came after President Macron announced France intends to recognise Palestinian statehood in the coming months.

Labour’s election manifesto included a pledge to recognise a Palestinian state “as a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state”.

Most countries – about 139 in all – formally recognise a Palestinian state, although many European nations and the United States say they will only do so as part of moves towards a long-term resolution to the conflict.

Spain, Ireland and Norway formally took the step last year, hoping to exert diplomatic pressure to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.

At the United Nations (UN), Palestinian representatives have limited rights to participate in UN activity, and the territory is also recognised by various international organisations, including the Arab League.

Sceptics argue recognition would largely be a symbolic gesture unless questions over the leadership and extent of a Palestinian state are addressed first.

At a press conference at Trump Turnberry, both Trump and Sir Keir agreed on the need for more aid to into Gaza.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned malnutrition in Gaza has reached “alarming levels”, with rates on a “dangerous trajectory”, as aid airdrops resumed in the strip.

Britain joined a weekend aid drop into Gaza, flying supplies in through Jordan as Israel paused its military operations.

Israel announced at the weekend that it would suspend fighting in three areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day, and open secure routes for aid delivery.

Speaking ahead of his meeting with Trump, Sir Keir described “images of starving children” in Gaza as “revolting”.

At the meeting, both leaders “agreed that urgent action was needed to bring an end to the suffering” in Gaza, Downing Street said.

Going into the meeting, Trump suggested the US would set up new food centres in Gaza without fences, after almost daily reports of Palestinians being killed while waiting for food under the current US-led arrangements.

The president blamed Hamas for stalling peace talks, saying the group had become “very difficult to deal with” and accusing it of stealing aid from civilians.

Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey warned the prime minister against accepting “warm words” from an “unpredictable” US president.

“In both Ukraine and the Middle East the situation is utterly intolerable, and the prime minister needs to work with our allies to put a proper plan in place, so that we can lead even if Donald Trump continues to refuse to act,” Sir Ed said.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 59,821 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.