Labour confirms opposition to embassy Jerusalem move
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster, also calls on Prime Minister Liz Truss to reconsider her intention to explore moving the UK's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Labour have confirmed they would oppose a move of the UK embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
A spokesperson for shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said the party’s position on the issue had not changed.
“We do not want the move to happen and we will oppose it,” a party spokesperson confirmed.
Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, also confirmed her party’s opposition to the move.
She said: “Moving the UK embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would be a provocation. The UK should under no circumstances be taking steps which risk inflaming tensions and damaging the prospects of peace.”
The SNP’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Alyn Smith also condemned Truss’s pledge to “review” the matter as “inconsistent with international law and does nothing to help bring about a peaceful two-state solution.
On Friday Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster, also called on Prime Minister Truss to reconsider her intention to explore moving the UK’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Nichols, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, wrote to the prime minister to express his “profound concern” over the review of the embassy location.
The issue has divided the community since it was raised by Truss, and backed by the Conservative Friends of Israel group during her leadership campaign.
Board of Deputies president Marie Van der Zyl called for the move in a speech at a CFI event at Tory Party conference at which the PM also spoke.
But many in the community fear an embassy move in Israel will only serve to further inflame tensions with the Palestinians, and should only be completed once a peaceful settlement has been achieved.
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