Lisa Nandy confirms Labour will back Priti Patel’s move to ban Hamas

Labour’s Lisa Nandy has confirmed that her party will be supporting the Home Secretary’s move to ban the political wing of Hamas as well as its military offshoot telling Jewish News: “We think this is absolutely the right thing to do.”

On Wednesday the motion outlining Priti Patel’s bid to proscribe the Islamic terror organisation will be debated in the House of the Commons.

Confirming her party’s backing for the proposal, the shadow foreign secretary said: “It was a recommendation made by an independent body. The rationale for it is that there is no longer any meaningful distinction to be made between the military and political wings of Hamas.

“We have already proscribed the military wing – this essentially brings us in line with the rest of Europe, the United States and Canada.

“It essentially returns us to the status quo position. We think it is absolutely the right thing, the sensible thing to do.”

Nandy said that Labour will seek assurances from the Government in Wednesday’s debate that proscription of Hamas in full does not prevent aid reaching those in need of it.

But she said this was a “technical consideration” rather than a concern over the principle of the Home Secretary’s move.

Nandy also described the murder on Sunday of 26 year- old Eliyahu Kay in the Old City of Jerusalem by a member of Hamas political wing as “absolutely heart-breaking.”

She said she would condemn the attack that, all injured four others, near the Western Wall in the “strongest terms.”

On Monday, the Home Secretary called for “all members of the House” to back the full ban on Hamas after first announcing the move on a trip to America last week.