Gaza ceasefire motion prompts fiery council debate

The meeting saw councillors launch a number of verbal attacks on each other

A motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza turned into a heated debate with councillors in Bradford trading insults.

Councillors heckled each other during the meeting on Tuesday, with one member saying he was "horrified by the conduct shown".

Put forward by council leader Susan Hinchcliffe, the motion called for Bradford Council to “condemn the indiscriminate attacks on Gaza by the Israeli military” and also called for the release of all hostages.

The subsequent debate soon became fiery with a clash between Labour and Independent councillors.

'Political point-scoring'

The motion, which was voted through by the Labour-run administration, is the third one made regarding the conflict.

It is also the first since the local elections in May when a number of Labour candidates lost their seats to Independents who had made the Gaza issue a key part of their campaign.

Before being voted in as prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer had previously called for Israel to comply with international law in the conflict, but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

Conservative councillor Mike Pollard said it was “depressing” to see the debate had become an “outbreak of strife between the Labour group and the Independents, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'Heckling and shouting'

He said the motion was “another iteration of a futile motion” and questioned what impact the debate in the Bradford Council chamber would have on affairs in the Middle East.

He added: “We’ve got the message loud and clear, as has, I’m sure, the newly elected government.

"If a variation of this motion comes back before the council in the next six months, the Conservative group is minded to disengage from that part of a future agenda, not only by abstaining on the vote but by also vacating the chamber for the duration of the debate.”

At the end of the hour-long debate, councillor Matt Edwards, leader of the Greens in Bradford, said: “As a Bradford councillor I am horrified by the conduct shown tonight.

“This is meant to be a debate on peace in the Middle East, but tonight we’ve heard more about the ballot boxes than the suffering in Palestine.

"It is political point-scoring when people are suffering and dying.”

He said councillors from all political colours, and from all across Bradford, had spoken out against the atrocities in Gaza.

He added: “The heckling, shouting and baying we’ve seen today does nothing for the people of Palestine.”

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