Kemi Badenoch, leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, has condemned the country’s recognition of Palestine as a state.
In a video shared on X on Sunday, Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, said the country has officially joined over 150 countries in recognising Palestine as a state.
“I know the strength of feeling that this conflict provokes,” the prime minister said.
Replying on Starmer’s post, Badenoch said the decision is “absolutely disastrous”, arguing that it rewards terrorism without placing any conditions on Hamas, leaving hostages trapped in Gaza and failing to ease the suffering of civilians caught in the war.
She said the move shows poor judgement and will have long-term consequences that Britain will regret.
“Disastrous. Absolutely disastrous. We will all rue the day this decision was made,” she said.
“Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas. It leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war.”
Badenoch said the Labour Party cannot fix the National Health Service (NHS), create jobs for young people, or manage immigration, so it turns to left-wing policies, including recognising Palestine as a state.
“It is because Labour cannot fix the big problems in our society that they focus on discredited student union campaigns to appease the hard left. And so on,” she said.
“They cannot fix the NHS, so they push assisted suicide. They cannot create jobs for young people, so they give them votes at 16. They cannot sort out immigration, but they will recognise Palestine instead.
“This is the same man who paid £35bn of reparations to Mauritius along with the surrender of the Chagos islands.
“Everything we are seeing is a consequence of a Prime Minister has no plan for the country and no judgement.
“He will spend the next four years delivering the hobby horses of the Labour left to stay in power and leave a HUGE mess for us to clean up.”
Several countries have recognised Palestine as a state amid the alleged genocide in Gaza.
However, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, and the United States have kicked against the recognition.
