The UK Government is not “actively looking to save Palestinian lives”, SNP MP Lara Bird has said.
The Arbroath and Broughty Ferry MP, who worked as a barrister before her election earlier this year and previously worked for the Britain Palestine Project, told a fringe event at the party’s conference in Aberdeen she was “angry” with the response of the UK Government to the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
The MP pointed her ire towards Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who announced plans to sanction Israel last month.
The Foreign Secretary announced sanctions against Israel last month (Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA)
PA Wire
Ms Bird said: “I am so angry that a few weeks ago I had to sit in the House of Commons and listen to Ed Miliband stand up with all the audacity that he had and pretend that the information that he was using to make the decision to sanction Israel was brand new information.
“To pretend that there was nothing that the UK Government could have possibly done before this point.”
She added: “Be under no pretence, because Ed Miliband’s statement might show a small change in narrative from the UK Government, but this is not a government that is actively looking to save Palestinian lives.
“Because if it was, it could have done that already – it could have taken action.”
Ms Bird went on to warn Mr Miliband, telling attendees at the event: “Have absolutely no doubt that when I’m in Westminster representing you, representing Arbroath and Broughty Ferry and representing the SNP, I will continue to be angry and I will use that anger.
“Ed Miliband has not heard the last of me.”
Former first minister and SNP leader Humza Yousaf also addressed the event – which was chaired by his wife and SNP councillor Nadia El-Nakla.
Ms El-Nakla’s parents were trapped in Gaza for a month at the beginning of the conflict in 2023, while Mr Yousaf was first minister.
Addressing the event, he stressed the packed room at the conference was a sign of “hope”.
“We must never lose that hope because the Palestinian people can’t afford for us to lose hope.”
He added that Scotland has “time and time again” proven “we stand on the side of the oppressed”.