Palestinian Sovereignty
Responding to the official recognition of Palestine by the UK on 21st September 2025, Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, said:
"This is an historic day. Recognising the right of Palestinians to their self-determination has been long overdue. It is a great step forward and something that Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for for almost a decade. But this is not the end of the road. The humanitarian catastrophe across Gaza and the West Bank continues to devastate lives - both for the hostages held in Hamas’ captivity and Palestinians suffering across the Occupied Territories.
The Government now needs to follow through and do all it can to secure a ceasefire, an end to the cycle of violence and a two-state solution which is the only way to ensure a permanent end to the conflict. I hope the PM will be at the UN General Assembly to help drive progress towards a ceasefire and a two-state solution.”
Recognising the state of Palestine was a step the Liberal Democrats have long championed, including through Layla Moran’s Palestine Statehood (Recognition Bill) which was presented on 23rd October 2024. In July 2025, I co-signed, along with my Liberal Democrat colleagues, a cross-party letter by Sarah Champion MP calling for the UK to recognise a Palestinian state.
The formal recognition of Palestine which thereafter took place on 21st September 2025 has been warmly welcomed by the Liberal Democrats, but we continue to urge the Prime Minister to apply pressure on Israel by fully ceasing arms sales, and to implement sanctions against the Israeli cabinet. This is crucial considering Members of the Israeli Security Cabinet have explicitly stated that their goal is to make a sovereign Palestinian state completely unviable. Schemes like the E1 settlement expansion are explicitly designed to bisect the West Bank and render contiguity impossible.
If the Government truly believes in the two-state solution it reaffirmed last autumn when it formally recognised the state of Palestine, it must actively protect the provisional 1967 borders it recognised. Allowing trade with these territories directly finances the infrastructure destroying the very state the UK now formally recognises. Banning this trade is the only way to signal that British recognition comes with diplomatic and economic weight.