A Lanarkshire MP says she acted on her own beliefs and the pleas of constituents in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in the UK parliament.
Motherwell and Wishaw MP Marion Fellows was one of 125 MPs who backed an SNP motion calling for a ceasefire in an amendment to the King’s Speech which was voted down by the Tories and the majority of Labour MPs.
And the MP revealed that emails received at her office from constituents have been “overwhelmingly in favour” of insisting that the UK Government uses its influence to call for a ceasefire.
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Ms Fellows said: “My constituents have made their position very clear in that they want an immediate ceasefire. I agree.
“Humanity, international law and the preservation of innocent lives demands that.
“When I stood up in the Commons to ask for an immediate ceasefire last month, there is no way did I think this nightmare would still be continuing to this day.
“All I can think of each night is the women and children in Gaza and their extreme suffering.
“This senseless and unacceptable bombardment of civilians must stop.
“Overwhelmingly my constituents are in favour of an immediate ceasefire.”
The vote was on an SNP amendment to a government motion on its plans for the year ahead, presented in the King’s Speech last week.
It called for an end to the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” and urged “all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire”.
It was defeated by 125 votes to 294, with 56 Labour rebels joining other opposition parties against the Conservatives who opposed it.
Labour, like the Conservative government, the United States and the European Union, is calling for “humanitarian pauses” to help aid reach Gaza.
Compared with a formal ceasefire, these pauses tend to last for short periods of time, sometimes just a few hours.
They are implemented with the aim of providing humanitarian support only, as opposed to achieving long-term political solutions.
Last week, the US said Israel would begin to implement daily four-hour military pauses in areas of northern Gaza.
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