Burnham says Britain will ‘continue to act in support of our values’ after UK launches sanctions on Israel – as it happened

• Ed Miliband, the UK foreign secretary, said on Tuesday that the UK regards Israel’s occupation of the West Bank as illegal. Miliband described violent Jewish settler activity on the occupied Palestinian West Bank as “ethnic cleansing” carried out with the tacit backing of the Netanyahu government and announced sweeping UK sanctions on goods from illegal settlements.

• Israel ordered the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem in response. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced retaliatory measures including the closure of the consulate and entry bans on several UK MPs.

• In his statement, Miliband said that Canada and France joined the UK in banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements today. But nine other European countries also said they are considering measures like this. All 12 countries issued a joint statement.

• Andy Burnham said Britain will “continue to act in support of our values” after his Government announced a raft of sanctions against Israel. The Prime Minister said Britain was “bringing forward targeted measures aimed not at the Israeli people, but in support of the two-state solution” and called the suffering of Palestinians “a scar on the conscience of the world”.

• Jeremy Corbyn headed the list of 12 Britons banned from Israel by the Israeli government following today’s illegal settlements trade ban. Eleven of them were MPs, and the other person, Fahad Ansari, runs an anti-Zionist legal group. Corbyn said it was “shocking” that Israel does not want the world to know what is happening in Palestine.

• Israel’s foreign minister said he had a conversation with Kemi Badenoch this evening to thank her and the Conservative party for going against sanctions imposed by the UK government over settler violence. Tory leader Badenoch wrote an uncompromising attack on the government’s decision to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank, in which she accused Labour of being antisemitic.

Dahlia Scheindlin, one of Israel’s leading political analysts, said Ed Miliband’s speech and new measures were unlikely to impact Israel’s October election results, because Israeli voters are more focused on domestic issues.

“I realise that for the UK this is a huge policy step forward, but for Israel there are so many other things going on today. It is landing on a day when the lists are closing [of parliamentary candidates for each party] and Haaretz has a bombshell exclusive about warnings Netanyahu got ahead of October 7th”, she said. “It also made headlines today and got a tough response from the FM but might not be as influential going forward as the combined sense of ongoing crises.

“Since October 7th Israeli has become much more inward looking and provincial, and generally the attitude to the rest of the world is just that ‘they all hate us’.

“If you are a Netanyahu supporter you might take this as evidence that they are against us because of anti-semitism, and if you are in the opposition camp you might take this as further evidence that the world is turning against us because of Netanyahu’s policies. But it’s hard to see how these policies change the breakdown of the electoral map.”

Israel’s foreign minister said he had a conversation with Kemi Badenoch this evening to thank her and the Conservative party for going against sanctions imposed by the UK government over settler violence.

Badenoch has written an uncompromising attack on the government’s decision to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank. It is in the Jewish Chronicle and – echoing the argument made by Mike Huckabee (see 9.52am), but with slightly less inflammatory language – she accuses Labour of being antisemitic.

Gideon Saar posted on X that he had spoken to Conservative leader Badenoch and shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat.

He said: “I thanked them for their firm opposition to the hostile Labour Government’s announcement today and its series of anti-Israel policies since taking office.

“I welcomed their support for the friendship with Israel and their commitment for the future relations between our countries. We know that we have many friends in the UK, but unfortunately we are faced with the ongoing hostility of the current Labour government.”

Critics of the trade ban have claimed UK authorities will struggle to differentiate between settlement goods and other Israeli goods. But UK customs authorities have been separating shipments for years. A long-standing free trade deal with Israel does not cover settlement goods, so they face higher tariffs than other Israeli imports.

“The UK authorities already have to differentiate between settlement goods and Israeli goods, even as the law stood yesterday; HMRC for the purposes of evaluating whether they allow preferential treatment or not, and also DEFRAfor consumer labelling,” said Jess Stober, Legal Director at the Global Echo Litigation Centre, which recently published a major investigation into European imports of settlement goods.

Since 2020 HMRC has been checking the “originating status” of a wide variety of Israeli imports, ranging from tahini and dates to cake mix and plastic sheets, to ensure correct tariffs are paid, she said. A ban makes it easier to differentiate by providing commercial incentives to correctly label imports.

She cited the example of a shipment of avocados from a settlement. If they were found to be mislabelled under current laws, the importer would have to pay extra tariffs. “Under a ban, those goods will be sent back and then they’re perishable. So everybody along the supply team would lose their money. There would be fines. You also have a set of criminal and civil sanctions available to punish people in the supply chain for doing that.”

“So under a ban it becomes commercially unviable to deal in certain products, in a way that it is not at the moment. So it really is nonsensical, that argument that you can’t differentiate.”

Andy Burnham said Britain will “continue to act in support of our values” after his Government announced a raft of sanctions against Israel.

The Prime Minister said: “In an increasingly volatile world, Britain must be willing to lead. The British people expect it, as do our international partners, and I am determined my Government will continue to act in defence of our values.

“Today, we are bringing forward targeted measures aimed not at the Israeli people, but in support of the two-state solution – and the prospect of Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace.

“The suffering of the Palestinian people is a scar on the conscience of the world. Innocent Palestinians, including children, continue to be killed in Gaza. And there is still a humanitarian crisis, with far too little aid getting in”, Burnham said. “That’s why we are acting, and why Britain will continue to act in support of our values.”

Richard Burgon, another MP who has been sanctioned by Israel, said he will “continue to do what is right” in response.

“I’ve repeatedly called for sanctions on Israel over its war crimes and ethnic cleansing, including by providing evidence to the International Criminal Court”, the Labour MP for Leeds East said.

“The decision by the Israeli government to sanction me today will not intimidate me into silence. I will continue to do what is right, speak out in defence of international law and stand up for justice for the Palestinian people.”

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has said Andy Burnham’s government is right to impose sanctions on Israel.

In a statement posted on X, Khan said: “It’s never been clearer: illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land are a significant obstacle to peace.

“There can be no two-state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine”, he added. “That’s why the UK Government is right to take strong action and impose a ban on trade in goods from these settlements.”

There is more about today’s announcement from Ed Miliband on the latest Latest, the evening edition of the Today in Focus podcast. It features Lucy Hough talking with Emma Graham-Harrison is the Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent.

That is all from me for today. Charlie Maloney is now taking over.

Andy Burnham has issued a joint statement with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Mark Carney, the Canadian PM, about the decision by all three countries to today announce a ban on trade with the illegal settlements on the West Bank.

Here is an excerpt.

Settlements are illegal under international law. The UK, France and Canada will therefore take steps to ban the importation of goods from settlements and enforce targeted measures against settlements and those who facilitate them or profit from them.

In taking this coordinated action we reiterate our desire for a close and productive partnership with Israel, our enduring support for the Israeli people and our unwavering commitment to Israel’s security. We support a safe and secure Israel, living alongside a safe and secure Palestine.

The Green party is saying the UK should stop indirectly supplying parts to Israel for use in F-35 fighter jets. (See 4.34pm.)

During his Commons statement, Ed Miliband said the UK could not do this without ending a weapons programme essential to Nato. In response to questions from the Lib Dem MP Calum Miller, Miliband said:

I want to take on his point on the F-35s. To be clear with the house, we stopped providing direct parts to Israel’s F-35 programme in October 2024, under [David Lammy] when he was foreign secretary.

The only provision we make now is indirectly to the global supply programme.

I am afraid that those who say we should stop supplying parts to the global supply chain are actually advocating the downing of the whole programme, which is crucial to our Nato and other allies. I want to be clear about that.