UK plan to sanction illegal Israeli settlements draws criticism from US, Israel and British MPs – UK politics live

In his interview with the Today programme, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said that Florida has a law that says it won't trade with companies that boycott Israel. (See 8.39am.)

In a post on social media, Randy Fine, the US Republican congressman, says he passed the law when he sat in the Florida legislature. He explains how it works.

As the British government considers forcing British companies to boycott portions of Israel, it should be aware that a Florida law that I passed as a member of the Legislature would ban any British company forced to comply from doing business with any state or local government in Florida.

It would also end any British business participating in that boycott from doing any business in Florida if it needed any official interaction with state or local government to operate (permits, tax collection).

Florida is one of Britain's largest trading partners. They should understand that their vanity project in support of Muslim terror could cost them billions of dollars.

And for those who doubt the power of this policy, it was this same law that broke Airbnb's misguided effort to boycott portions of Israel in 2019. They realized that this law would have bankrupted their company. Florida has made it clear.

Any company — or nation — that boycotts Israel is boycotted by Florida.

Richard Adams is the Guardian's education editor.

The OECD's triennial programme for international student assessment (Pisa) comes as a controversial intervention in England's policy debate about schools and what they should teach.

The Pisa 2025 rankings published today show England's teenagers doing as well as ever in traditional subjects, and well above average, at a time when international test results in reading and maths have declined. But the policy mood within England's government is that schools are too academic for those who struggle in exams such as GCSEs.

Lucy Powell, education secretary for England, said in an interview with the Observer that while she applauded the Pisa results, she wanted to “replace the exam factory with the talent factory†and argued that “the gap between the classroom and that new world of work is just too bigâ€.

But the Pisa results – based on tests and surveys of 15-year-olds – showed that disadvantaged students in England outperform students in other European countries.

Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director for education and skills, said:

Today we can see that the most disadvantaged students in the UK are doing better than their counterparts in Germany, for example.

Prof Becky Francis, who headed the government's curriculum review in England published late last year, said:

Today's Pisa scores tell a positive story about our school system and the hard work of teachers and school leaders. While the global decline in reading scores is deeply concerning, the UK is bucking the international trend, with England performing particularly strongly.

England is the only UK nation where performance across all three subjects has held up since 2015. That suggests there are important things our education system is getting right.

And here are two more Guardian graphics illustrating what has been happening in the West Bank.

This one shows property demolitions. The Israelis regularly demolish Palestinian homes, which is one way their grip on the territory is being extended.

And this one shows the number of Palestinian civilians killed in the West Bank year on year.

The Commons authorities have confirmed that there will be an urgent question on the Falkland Islands at 12.30pm. After that, starting at about 1.15pm, there will be two statements: Ed Miliband on illegal settlements in the West Bank, and then Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, on social media restrictions.

Here are two Guardian graphics about the West Bank.

This one shows where settlements are.

And this one shows which areas are fully or partially controlled by Israel, and which are controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

In an interview on BBC's Newsnight last night, Jonathan Hall KC, the government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said he was worried banning trade with the illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank could lead to more antisemitic attacks in the UK. He said:

I think there is a risk that if you stir the pot by making Israel a pariah state, then that will bring that flame up again, which we saw.

Remember, it was only a year ago that there was the attack at Heaton Park. And I've been very worried about delegitimising anyone who's Israeli, certainly, and Jews, many of whom support Israel, and painting a bit of a target on the back.

Now, I'm sure the government will be very careful, I hope they will be, in the way in which they describe this, but that is a concern.

The Liberal Democrats say they have been granted a Commons urgent question today about the latest Argentinian threats to the Falkland Islands. A Foreign Office minister will be responding at about 12.30pm.

Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, has said that Britain will be “on the wrong side of history†if it goes ahead with plans to ban trade with the illegal settlements on the West Bank.

In a statement delivered on camera, Herzog said:

Later today, we expect to see headlines announcing certain British trade sanctions on Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria.

If this happens – and other nations may join – I believe it will prove to be a grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history.

In the current context, it would be a gross interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation, and it will serve no one.

It will directly harm, unfortunately, Palestinians, robbing them of business and employment.

And ultimately it will undermine the interests and national security of freedom-loving nations.

Sanctions are not a solution. Dialogue is.

I say to all foreign governments, stop. Step away from the dead end of sanctions and boycotts, and turn towards constructive dialogue and towards cooperation.

Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, was speaking for the government on the morning news programmes. Here are the points he was making about the plan to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements.

• McFadden said the ban was intended to stop the two-state solution being rendered impossible. He said:

At the heart of the statement is the idea that the UK, along with many other countries, do not want to see the possibility of a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine being erased by changes to the facts on the ground, and the reason that danger has become more urgent is because of expanded settlement activity in recent weeks and months.

Plans in the so-called E1 area could see the “effective cutting off of the north of the West Bank from the south of the West Bankâ€, he said.

• He said this move was aimed at the Israeli government, not the Israeli people. He explained:

Israel is an important security ally, and in the context of what we're saying today, I think it's also important to distinguish between action which is announced in response to policies of this Israeli government at this time, and the people of Israel and the links between Israel and the UK, which are important and valuable and will continue to be so.

• He stressed that Israel would remain an important trading partner for the UK. He told Sky News:

I think it's also important to say that Israel is an important trading partner for the UK. This isn't intended to be a boycott of all Israeli goods.

• He strongly rejected Mike Huckabee's claim that the UK government was guilty of “Jew hateâ€. (See 9.52am.) Asked about Huckabee's comment, he said:

I fundamentally reject that. When it comes to the Jewish community in the UK, this is a really important part of our society.

I want Jewish people in the UK to be able to live their lives freely in education, in work, in worship, in all aspects of their lives, and I and every government minister would condemn any attacks on the Jewish community here in the UK.

Israeli ministers have reacted with fury to the news that the UK government is going to ban trade with the illegal settlements on the West Bank. And they are threatening retaliation.

Gideon Saar, the foreign minister, said:

If Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, put a message on social media saying:

It's time for the State of Israel to publicly recognize that the Malvinas Islands are Argentine territory under occupation, which the British violently steal from the Argentine people. The British are not content with merely occupying the territory; they also carry out oil drilling there and steal the money from the Argentine people.

I call upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize Argentina's sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands and to impose sanctions on Great Britain as long as the occupation continues.

And Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister and the other leading far-right extremist in Benjamin Netanyahu's government, posted this on social media.

Expel the British ambassador tonight!

We will not be a doormat trampled by an antisemitic government, in a country conquered by radical Islam, trying to save itself from economic and social decline by attacking Jews and the State of Israel.

The British Mandate in the Land of Israel is over.

The UK has committed £100m to boost Ukraine's air defences over winter with a package of military equipment including Patriot missiles, Jamie Grierson reports.

There are further details in the Ministry of Defence's news release.

Here are some more lines from Anna Foster's interview with Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, on the Today programme this morning.

• Huckabee said that imposing a ban on trade with the illegal West Bank settlements was “irrationalâ€. He said:

This is an irrational action. That's what I'm saying. I don't understand what it's supposed to achieve.

If the UK is really interested in dealing with issues they feel like are wrong, where are the sanctions against North Korea, China, Russia? Where are the sanctions against many other nations in the world?

In fact, the UK does have sanctions affecting trade with North Korea, Russia and China. It is particularly surprising that Huckabee mentioned Russia in this list because the UK seems to have been tightening sanctions against Russia almost every week since the invasion of Ukraine.

• He claimed the ban would amount to “discrimination†against Israel. He said:

I feel like that it's a discrimination against the Israeli government, it's discrimination against the Jewish people and I don't understand the rationale of it.

• He said he had not spoken to Donald Trump about the UK trade ban this week.

• He said the trade ban would have repercussions for the UK. He said:

I don't know if they have thought through, it's like throwing a stone and not having an idea of where it's going to land. And I realise the UK is a sovereign country, they can do what they want, but so is the US.

As mentioned earlier (see 8.39am), he said UK-US trade could suffer as a result.

• He said that, when he accused the UK government of “Jew hate†in a post on social media at the weekend, he knew that Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, was Jewish. But he defended using the term.

There are some Americans that don't like America very much. They march in the streets and burn our flags. Doesn't mean that they love America just because they live there. You go by what people do, not just by what they say or who they're related to.

• He said Palestinians were to blame for the two-state solution not being implemented. Ed Miliband is arguing that the UK should act to stop settlement expansion because, with more West Bank land being taken over by Israelis, a two-state solution becomes unviable. But, asked about the two-state solution, Huckabee said:

The two-state solution has been a policy for a long time, but it's on hold because the Palestinians have rejected a two-state solution.

When it was offered to them under Bill Clinton in the year 2000, all the parties were at the table and Yasser Arafat showed up. He was offered 97% of the territory, 97%, including East Jerusalem, and he walked away from it.

• He claimed that there was an “imbalance†in the way events on the West Bank were reported, and that Palestinian violence against Israelis was not properly covered.

• He said he did not accept the term “occupied West Bank†for the West Bank.

A Labour MP has warned that the proposed ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank could increase the risk to British Jews.

In an interview with the Today programme, Peter Prinsley, vice chair of Labour Friends of Israel, said:

My fear is that opponents of Israel won't distinguish between Israeli government policy, Zionistic political philosophy, and British Jews.

As far as they're concerned, the whole thing's the same, and I think it carries a real risk of increased chances of attacks on the British Jewish community. Which is exactly what I said to Ed Miliband when I was asked to see him two or three nights ago.

Prinsley also said he thought it was a mistake for the government to announce the ban now, only weeks before the election in Israel on 27 October. He explained:

I think the timing is terrible. I think we need to wait for the result of the Israeli election, and then we need to have another think.

We must do whatever we can to preserve the two-state solution, and I think the behaviour of the presently-elected Israeli government is really outrageous in this respect. I have a horrible feeling that what we're doing will not only embolden the present government of Netanyahu, but has the capacity to influence the election itself, which is on a knife edge.

The Conservatives have described the proposed ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements as “performative posturingâ€. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, used the phrase on the Today programme when he was asked about the announcement coming today.

Philp said:

We think it's performative posturing.

It's very difficult to distinguish goods that come from the West Bank area versus the rest of Israel. So practically, it's very difficult to implement.

It also risks damaging an important security relationship because we do rely, the UK relies, on Israel for vital information and intelligence about terrorist threats.

But I would also like to say, that said, we do oppose the building of settlements on land which is Palestinian, whether that's sponsored by the Israeli state or simply allowed to happen, because we do think a two-state solution is the right solution, and building settlements on Palestinian land is obviously wrong.

The full details of the ban have not been announced. But the Foreign Office has not challenged the accounts of what Ed Miliband is expected to say later today.

Good morning. It is hard to understand Labour/leftwing politics in the UK at the moment without reference to Israel and Gaza. Keir Starmer's popularity with some progressive voters slumped in part because he was seen as unwilling to do enough to channel the anger they feel about how Israel is treating Palestinians – even though last year he took the historic step of formally recognising the state of Palestine. Quite a lot of what Andy Burnham has done in his early days as PM has had a “continuity Starmer†flavour, but today the new government will take a bold step that will recast the UK/Israel relationship, acting where the Starmer administration just dragged its feet.

In a statement to MPs, Ed Miliband, the new foreign secretary, will announce that Britain is banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Patrick Wintour has the story here.

For years, successive governments – Labour and Conservative – have condemned the decades-long expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land on the West Bank – while doing precious little about it. But with Benjamin Netanyahu's government escalating the process, Miliband will tell MPs that action is necessary now to stop the prospect of a two-state solution (Israel living alongside a viable Palestinian state) being killed off for good.

As Patrick reports in his story, Miliband is not giving pro-Palestinian supporters everything they are asking for. Quite what impact the measures will have on Israel remains to be seen. But it is still a big shift in policy. And, conveniently for Labour, it is coming just a day after the party moved the writ for the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, where what was a safe Labour seat is under threat from the pro-Palestinian Green party.

But the move isn't without risks. The Conservatives argue that anything that jeopardises Israeli security cooperation with the UK could increase the terrorism risk to Britons. There are concerns that any government policy that stigmatises Israel is likely to heighten antisemitism. And there have been warnings that Israel and its allies – particularly the US – could retaliate.

This morning Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, has said exactly that. In an interview, he told the Today programme:

I don't know if [the British government is] really aware of the implications and how it's going to affect Brits.

For example, 25% of pharmaceuticals that are used in the UK are made in Israel. Are they willing to give those up? It looks like they are.

Are they willing also to do great damage to any Brits who are doing business in a number of states in the US?

I don't know what all of the national sanctions or repercussions or retaliations will be from the US. [That] hasn't been announced yet. But I do know that there are a number of states – let me mention one, one of the largest US states, Florida – it has a law that if this action is taken, then Brits will not be able to do business with any company or business in Florida.

Huckabee – a very rightwing Republican and former governor, who like most US ambassadors was appointed because he was close to the president – went even further at the weekend, accusing the UK government of “Jew hateâ€.

I will post more from his interview soon.

Here is the agenda.

Morning: Andy Burnham chairs cabinet.

11.30am: John Healey, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons.

Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

After 12.30pm: Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, makes a statement to MPs about his plan to impose a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements.

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