Burnley council leader quits over Starmer’s failure to call for Gaza ceasefire

The leader of Burnley borough council has resigned along with 10 other councillors in protest at Keir Starmer’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

Afrasiab Anwar, who has been a member of the party for a decade, was among those who called for the Labour leader to step down last week.

He described leaving Labour as a “really difficult decision”, adding: “We just can’t stand by watching and being part of a party that is not speaking out, or at the very least calling for a ceasefire.

Starmer has urged Israel to obey international law and called for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting, but refused to call for an immediate ceasefire, a stance that has divided the party.

“Instead of talking of peace, all of our world leaders, including the leader of the Labour party, are talking about humanitarian pauses. It’s just nonsensical,” Anwar added.

He said the group had tried “everything we could by working within the party” and that he wanted Labour to “come back to its core values of fighting for social justice”.

In a statement on Sunday, the group said: “It has become apparent that Keir Starmer and the leadership either cannot or will not heed our concerns or acknowledge the sentiments within our communities.”

It added: “In response to our calls for him to resign he responded that the individual concerns of members are not his focus, further illustrating that he does not value the voice of the grassroots of the party.”

Sixteen Labour frontbenchers and a third of the entire parliamentary party have either called for a ceasefire or shared others’ calls backing a ceasefire on social media, including Yasmin Qureshi, Jess Phillips and Imran Hussain.

Senior Labour figures including the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, and Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, have also been among those to challenge Starmer’s stance.

Earlier this week, at least 330 Labour councillors signed a letter urging Starmer to back a ceasefire in Gaza.

“As community leaders, we are proactively supporting our residents by speaking to faith and community groups and working to protect our communities who are facing rising hate crime and racially motivated violence,” the letter said.

“The intensified human catastrophe in Gaza impacts us all, and the Labour party’s failure to call for an end to violence is causing hurt in our communities.”

Polling by Savanta of 618 councillors between 27 October and 2 November suggested that only 37% of Labour local representatives were satisfied with the party’s position on the conflict.