Rt Hon Greg Hands MP

Conservative Party Chairman

Sir Keir Starmer Rt Hon Greg Hands MP

Leader of the Opposition Chairman of The Conservative Party
House of Commons 4 Matthew Parker Street
London London
SW1A 0AA SW1H 9HQ

7th November 2023

Dear Sir Keir,

Re: Appeal to the Labour Party to call on Trade Unions to sever ties with the Palestinian
Solidarity Campaign

I write to ask the Labour Party you lead to formally request for the trade unions that currently have
links with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) to disaffiliate from the PSC.

Labour’s biggest trade union backers and affiliates are affiliated to the Palestine Solidarity
Campaign, including Unite and the NEU. Despite instruction from Labour’s General Secretary
advising Labour members not to join protests, members of these unions, as well as those from
ASLEF, attended carrying flags in support of the PSC on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 October at
PSC-led marches. In fact, ASLEF’s General Secretary, Mick Whelan, appeared on the frontline at
the PSC march held on 21 October – outwardly disobeying advice from Labour’s General
Secretary and marking a direct affiliation between the PSC and the Labour Party.

Looking forward, I understand that the PSC has also planned to march on 11 November – the same
day as Armistice Day in the United Kingdom. I reiterate the Prime Minister’s comments that
planning protests on this special day, where we remember all those who gave their lives in service
to our country since 1914, is ‘provocative and disrespectful’. I, therefore, urge you to exercise your
leadership in calling on all labour-affiliated trade unions not to march on this day in a show of
support for our Armed Forces.

I echo The Rt. Hon Kemi Badenoch’s letter to Unite of 12 October, who was at a loss as to how the
union could associate itself with a group that espouses views that encourage the antisemitism and
violence we are witnessing. One example being of protesters loudly chanting ‘from the river to the
sea, Palestine will be free’, which is widely interpreted as calling for the destruction of the state of
Israel and, in turn, has become, as referred to by the Home Secretary, a ‘staple of anti-Semitic
discourse’.

Under international law, Israel has the absolute right to self-defence, both of its state and of its
citizens. In exercising this right, the IDF, unlike Hamas, is bound by the international laws of
conflict. And we know this because the IDF do not deliberately target and mutilate defenceless
children and infants, as we have seen Hamas do.

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The purpose of all trade unions is to stand up for the rights of their members. It is questionable
what benefit their members will gain from the use of union resources in supporting the PSC. Trade
unions should focus on their core aims rather than associating with extreme activist groups.

I understand this is not the first letter you have received calling on you personally as the leader of
the Labour Party to disassociate from trade unions with affiliations to the PSC. The letter organised
by Campaign Against Antisemitism makes a poignant argument and I align with their view that the
continuing relationship between those unions that are officially affiliated to Labour and those
same unions that officially back the organisers of these marches undermines your response to the
terrorist attacks on Israel and your credibility as the leader of the Labour Party.

I therefore ask, once again, will you call on all Labour-affiliated trade unions to drop formal ties
between themselves and the PSC?

Yours sincerely,

The Rt Hon Greg Hands MP

Chairman of the Conservative Party.