In an interview with Radio 4’s the World at One, Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, claimed that peers who argue that Palestinian state recognition would be unlawful are “missing the point”.After being invited to listen to a clip of Lady Deech explaining the peers’ objections to the plan (see 12.59pm), and asked to respond, Reynolds replied:I think, to be honest, with respect to those colleagues, that is missing the point somewhat.What we want to see is not just a ceasefire to the conflict in Gaza, but a genuine peace process, a long-term settlement, and that requires a two state solution.And we’re trying to use recognition of a Palestinian state … in a way which genuinely moves forward this peace process, deals with short-term issues like getting sufficient aid into Gaza, which is a huge deal, but also sets in place a serious long-term peace process.

And that is the objective.I would ask colleagues to appreciate that and look at the levers the UK has to help deliver something which millions of people around the world are desperate to see.The UK’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state is compliant with international law, a minister has said, after a group of peers raised concerns that it did not meet the legal bar.As Haroon Siddique writes in an explainer, there are plenty of lawyers who agree with the government, not the peers who wrote the letter.Haroon says:Philippe Sands KC, a professor of law at University College London, pointed out that in its advisory opinion last year the UN’s top court, the international court of justice (ICJ), recognised “the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including its right to an independent and sovereign state”.

Sands said: “I have no doubt whatsoever that if it were asked, the ICJ would reject the argument that it is somehow unlawful to recognise the existence of Palestinian statehood,Palestine meets all the legal criteria of statehood; all that remains is a political consideration, namely whether to recognise or not that those criteria are met,The court’s language makes clear that that right exists now, and it exists because all the criteria for statehood are met,”Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, defended the fact that the government’s plan for recognising Palestinian statehood does not involve firm “conditions” being placed on Hamas, saying the government could not make the decision conditional on what Hamas does because it does not negotiate with terrorist organistions,(See 2.

34pm.)The Treasury should consider a wealth tax to close the growing gap in the public finances, according to a Labour former shadow chancellor.Nine out of 10 nurses have rejected their 3.6% pay award for this year and warned that they could strike later this year unless their salaries are improved.For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

Mary-Ann Stephenson, who has been head of the Women’s Budget Group, a feminist economic thinktank, has been confirmed as the new chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the government has announced.She will take up her post on 1 December.Her appointment was opposed by some transgender groups because in the past she has defended women who have been vilified for their gender critical views.A Reform UK government would have to pour some “nasty medicine” down the throat of the nation, according to the head of a thinktank advising the party.James Orr, who chairs the advisory board for the Centre for a Better Britain (CBB) thinktank, made the comment in an interview with the BBC.

The CBB has close links to Reform, and operates from the same building,Orr told the BBC:You’ve got a massive majority [of voters] in favour of cutting taxes, a massive majority in favour of increased public spending, and Reform has not got a magic wand,But, if Nigel Farage were to take power after the next election, one advantage he would have would be not having to deal with a lot of MPs who had been in parliament before, Orr said,One of the advantages of having a completely fresh, new parliamentary party is that the leadership will have a great deal more power than Keir Starmer has, even with a majority of 160, and that Kemi Badenoch has over a party of 123,There will be a honeymoon period, I think, of a year, or two years.

Those first hundred days are going to be absolutely vital to force the nasty cough medicine down the country’s throat.The number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel has topped 25,000 in record time, PA Media reports.PA says:Hundreds of foreign nationals have made the journey in recent days, as ministers continue to grapple with the challenge of cracking down on people-smuggling gangs.Some 898 migrants crossed the Channel in 13 boats on Wednesday, bringing the total in 2025 so far to 25,436, Home Office figures show.This is up 51% on this point last year (16,842) and 73% higher than at this stage in 2023 (14,732), according to PA news agency analysis.

It is the earliest point in a calendar year at which the 25,000 mark has been passed since data on Channel crossings was first reported in 2018,When the government announced its Palestinian statehood recognition policy on Tuesday, it included requirements for both Israel and Hamas,But the requirements for Israel were described as “conditions”, and Keir Starmer said, unless they were met, the UK would go ahead with recognition,The demands addressed to Hamas were not described as conditions, and Starmer was not explicit about what would happen if they were not met,In his interview on the World at One, Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, defended not imposing “conditions” on Hamas, saying the government could not negotiate with a terrorist organistion.

He said:The reason [it has been] presented in that way is because Hamas are a terrorist organisation, and we don’t put conditions on them because we don’t negotiate with terrorists,We’ve been absolutely clear, it’s our long-standing position, that the hostages have to be released,It’s also our long-standing position that Hamas can play no role in the future governance of Gaza or any Palestinian state,So those are absolute conditions, but we will never be willing to negotiate with Hamas because they are a terrorist organisation,Despite being asked, Reynolds avoided saying if the government would be willing to recognise a Palestinian state if Hamas was still holding hostages in Gaza in September.

In an interview with Radio 4’s the World at One, Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, claimed that peers who argue that Palestinian state recognition would be unlawful are “missing the point”.After being invited to listen to a clip of Lady Deech explaining the peers’ objections to the plan (see 12.59pm), and asked to respond, Reynolds replied:I think, to be honest, with respect to those colleagues, that is missing the point somewhat.What we want to see is not just a ceasefire to the conflict in Gaza, but a genuine peace process, a long-term settlement, and that requires a two state solution.And we’re trying to use recognition of a Palestinian state … in a way which genuinely moves forward this peace process, deals with short-term issues like getting sufficient aid into Gaza, which is a huge deal, but also sets in place a serious long-term peace process.

And that is the objective.I would ask colleagues to appreciate that and look at the levers the UK has to help deliver something which millions of people around the world are desperate to see.Other countries are following Starmer in saying this week that they are bringing forward plans to recognise the state of Palestine.The announcements are being made off the back of a UN conference intended to revive support for the two-state solution.After Starmer announced his move on Tuesday evening, Mark Carney, the Canadian PM, announced that his country intends to formally recognise Palestine during the UN general assembly in September.

This is conditional on the Palestinian Authority, the body that governs the occupied West Bank, holding an election in 2026 in which Palestinian militant group Hamas does not play a role, and agreeing to other democratic reforms.And today the Portuguese government has said it is considering recognising Palestine in September.The AFP news agency says:The Portuguese government will consult the president and parliament on the question of recognising the state of Palestine at the UN in September, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro’s office said Thursday.Portugal “is considering recognition of the Palestinian state, as part of a procedure that could be concluded during the high-level week of the 80th United Nations general assembly, to be held in New York in September”, the statement said.And today Germany’s foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, said:A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity.

For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process.But such a process must begin now.Keir Starmer has ducked a question about claims that recognising the state of Palestine would be contrary to international law.While a government minister rejected this claim in an interview this morning (see 8.50am), Starmer just gave a generalised answer when asked about the issue in an interview with ITV West Country.

Asked how he would respond to the backlash against his recognition plan, including from senior lawyers saying it would be illegal, Starmer instead focused on giving a response to Emily Damari, the British-Israeli woman held hostage by Hamas, who yesterday accused him of “moral failure”, saying he was rewarding terrorism,Starmer said:I particularly listen to the hostages,Emily Damari, who I have spoken to, I’ve met her mother a number of times, and they’ve been through the most awful, awful experience for Emily and for her mother,And that’s why I’ve been absolutely clear and steadfast that we must have the remaining hostages released,That’s been our position throughout, and I absolutely understand the unimaginable horror that Emily went through.

Alongside that we do need to do everything we can to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophy in Gaza, where we are seeing the children and babies starving for want of aid which could be delivered.And that is why I’ve said unless things materially change on the ground, we’ll have to assess this in September, we will recognize Palestine before the United Nations general assembly in September.One of the peers who has signed the letter to Lord Hermer, the attorney general, arguing that recognising a Palestinian state would not be compatible with international law, is Lady Deech, an academic lawyer and former head of an Oxford college who now chairs the House of Lords Appointments Commission.In an interview with Sky News, she said Palestinian state recognition “definitely would break the law”.She explained:The Montevideo Convention has never been challenged.

It was based on the existing international law, and it now counts as customary law.And this country is definitely bound by it, as the prime minister must know.Asked why the government was ignoring this issue, she said: “I think they must have overlooked it.”Deech said that her main objection to recognition was legal.But she also flagged up other objections.

She said that more than 100 countries had already recognised Palestine, “and it’s made no difference on the ground”,She also said that the Palestinians had been offered a state and rejected it “at least four times in the last few decades … going back to 1938, right through to as recently as 2008”,To coincide with the release of today’s figures about violence in jails (see 10,36am), the Ministry of Justice has announced that it is using AI to address this problem,In a news release it says:AI will be used across prisons, probation and courts to better track offenders and assess the risk they pose with tools that can predict violence behind bars, uncover secret messages sent by prisoners and connect offender records across different systems.

The AI violence predictor analyses different factors such as a prisoner’s age and previous involvement in violent incidents while in custody.This will help prison officers assess threat levels on wings and intervene or move prisoners before violence escalates.Another AI tool will be able to digitally scan the contents of mobile phones seized from prisoners to rapidly flag messages that could provide intelligence on potential crimes being committed behind bars, such as secret code words.