Cross-party councillors call for 'immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza' in Peterborough

Peterborough councillors of all stripes have called for “an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza”.

A motion, brought by Cllr Mohammed Rangzeb (Independent, Ravensthorpe), calling on the council’s leader to write to the city’s MPs “strongly urging” them to call for an end to the fighting was voted through at a meeting this week.

The motion also calls on the council’s leader, Cllr Mohammed Farooq (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted) to write to the Foreign Secretary asking him to seek release for hostages, ensure access for humanitarian aid and “raise concerns about Israeli army and settler violence in the West Bank”.

Cllr Rangzeb left the Conservative party in December because of the national government’s stance on the conflict, but has continued to sit and vote with the group in council meetings.

Councillor has no plans to rejoin Conservatives

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after the vote on his motion, he confirmed that he’s not currently considering rejoining the party, despite the majority of the Conservative group – including leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West) – supporting it.

He added that he was pleased the vote passed but “disappointed” that 11 councillors, all Conservatives, had abstained.

Among them was Cllr Steve Allen (Conservatives, Eye, Thorney and Newborough) who said it was “heartbreaking” to witness the “mounting devastation” in Gaza, but added that he “cannot see the worth of letters from this chamber or the city council”.

“The Middle East is a tinderbox and our tiny voice will have no impact on the geopolitical matters of this nature,” he said, with the solution rather lying with the “immediate players” of the latest eruption of violence.

Vote is a show of ‘solidarity’

Cllr Ishfaq Hussain (Conservatives, Dogsthorpe) said, though, that the vote shows “solidarity and concern” and “highlights an issue that means so much to so many people in Peterborough”.

Cllr Fitzgerald said that his group was free to vote as they liked on the motion, but that he would support it because “I have a great deal of respect for my colleague, Cllr Rangzeb, and I sympathise with him and many people locally and internationally” who are affected by the conflict.

He added that “moral support” can filter back through the MPs, although Paul Bristow has already publicly called for a ceasefire.

Mr Bristow did, however, abstain on an SNP motion calling for a ceasefire in parliament, or would have risked losing his position as Peterborough’s MP on top of his job as a government aide.

Peterborough’s Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and Peterborough First parties all supported Cllr Rangzeb’s motion.

Leader of the Green group Cllr Nicola Day (Greens, Orton Waterville) said that her party would go further than the motion and “call for an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine and an end to arms sales to Israel”.

Labour leader, Cllr Dennis Jones (Labour, Dogsthorpe) added that while he supports the motion, the council “should have done this sooner” and that it had arrived “a little bit late in the day”.