Britain recognises the State of Palestine

This week Britain finally recognised Palestine as a state.  More than 100 years after the Balfour declaration promised equal rights over the historic lands to Arabs and Jews, 75 years after Britain recognised the State of Israel and ten years after the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly for recognition.

Better late than never.  And where better to celebrate the event than outside the newly-designated Embassy in Hammersmith. On Monday morning, in a cul-de-sac off King Street, hundreds of MPs and Peers, Ambassadors from across the globe and campaigners including many British Palestinians gathered to see the flag raised in front of the Embassy by Ambassador Husam Zumlot and Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer.

The national anthem was played, speeches were made, baklava was distributed. As someone who has campaigned for many years for the rights of Palestinians, this was a remarkable day. I would like to thank the leader of Hammersmith & Fulham, Cllr Stephen Cowan, his staff and our local police, who organised the logistics and security for the event.

Keir Starmer and his ministers deserve credit both for pressing on with recognition in the face of strong opposition especially from the Trump regime. And for coordinating recognition with France, Canada, Australia and many other countries to make the maximum impact at this week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting.

A special thanks also to Ambassador Zomlot, a personal friend and an outstanding diplomat, who has never lost sight of this goal, even as he has seen many members of his family killed or injured in Gaza since 2023.

But the celebrations must now be curtailed.  Recognition is a vital step forward but it does not create the actuality of an independent Palestine and it does not stop the bloodshed.

The ground invasion of Gaza City is the worst phase of violence yet.  Over 65,000 Palestinians are known to have died, the true figure is likely much higher.  Many thousands more will die if the systematic destruction of Gaza continues.  A ceasefire, aid supplies, an independent peacekeeping force and reconstruction are the immediate essentials, alongside release of the Israeli hostages and interned Palestinians and the exclusion of Hamas.

And if recognition is to mean anything it requires the occupation to end in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It means an end to settler violence and the destruction of Palestinian homes and farms. Palestinian families already exiled in 1948 or 1967 now find themselves second class citizens in their own country.

The logical consequence of recognition is an end to trade with settlements and the sanction of settlers and their supporters in the Netanyahu government. Israel continues daily to commit grave breaches of international law.  Recognition gives hope at a time when it seemed lost, but it is only one step on the road to a free and sovereign Palestine.

Iain Coleman

Iain Coleman, my closest political friend and mentor, died on 20 September aged 67.  Iain was MP for Hammersmith & Fulham 1997-2005, and therefore my predecessor for part of the Hammersmith & Chiswick seat.  We were elected to H&F Council for neighbouring wards in 1986 and I was his deputy for five years while he was council leader there from 1991 to 1996.

A series of strokes in his 40s forced Iain to leave Parliament at the 2005 General Election, and he became increasingly frail as the years passed, cutting off a brilliant political career, but he did enough to leave a lasting impression on all those he met.

I first properly met Iain on the coach down to Tolpuddle in 1984, the 150^th anniversary of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.  It was a lively day out, the first of many I spent with him over the next 20 years.  He was great fun to be with, took very little seriously including himself and played hard.  He was a gooner through and through and got into trouble when the Standard found his MP diary had been cleared for all Arsenal games.

With his wife Dame Sally Powell, a senior figure in the national Labour Party, they formed the ‘power couple’ in H&F for many years.  Iain was an astute political operator who always achieved what he aimed for, whether that was running the borough or getting elected and re-elected for one of the most marginal Labour seats in London.

I will remember Iain for all the fun times we had, most of which are not repeatable here, but above all I will treasure his memory for his social conscience and the example he set.

He led Hammersmith & Fulham with great skill and served all its residents, but here as in Parliament his passion was for those left behind.  For refugees, for those suffering discrimination or whom society had failed.  He believed in the power of the welfare state to give everyone a decent quality of life.  He was conscientious with his casework and representing his constituents fiercely, probably to the detriment of his own health and welfare. Residents still often ask me about him and remember his kindness.

He will leave a hole in the lives of the many people and communities he touched.  A good socialist, a good friend and a good man.

Parliament

Work as Chair of the Justice Committee continues to take a lot of my parliamentary time, perhaps not surprisingly given the parlous state the justice system was reduced to by the previous government, suffering the biggest cuts of any department and leaving court cases backed up for years and prisons bursting.

We have new Lord Chancellor to scrutinise post-reshuffle, David Lammy, who only a few years ago was my boss when he was shadow Lord Chancellor and I was shadow justice minister.  Now my job is to point out the challenges the Ministry of Justice is facing such as the embattled state of the probation service, which the government is asking to take on even more work.

I spoke at length on the challenges to prisons and probation when the Sentencing Bill had its second reading. This is a good piece of legislation, crafted from the independent review by former Tory Lord Chancellor David Gauke, but it sets formidable challenges to already overstretched prison and probation officers.  I also wrote about the Bill for The Chiswick Calendar.  It proposes more out-of-prison punishment and rehabilitation, both to ease the prison crisis and because short prison sentences fail spectacularly in reforming offenders.

Another substantial piece of justice legislation was published last week, the ‘Hillsborough Law’ designed to prevent the type of miscarriage of justice suffered for decades by the families of those killed in the Hillsborough tragedy.

It will introduce a ‘duty of candour’ to avoid the malpractice that led not only to Hillsborough but Grenfell, Horizon, Contaminated Blood and many more scandals from recent decades. The Public Office (Accountability) Bill, to give it its official title, will place a new legal duty on public servants to act truthfully and fully support investigations to ensure wrongdoing is not concealed and justice for victims is delivered. I spoke in a well-attended debate just before publication.

I am particularly pleased to see the Hillsborough law will ensure parity between arms of the state who currently come to public inquiries well stocked with lawyers and victims’ families who often represent themselves, something for which I have long campaigned.

Meanwhile, the Committee is undertaking four major inquiries: we are awaiting a Government response to our report on delays and inefficiency in the county court, we are completing work on reoffending and drugs in prisons and starting a new inquiry into access to justice. We may also look at reform of the legal profession following Baroness Harman’s recent report on bullying and sexual harassment at the Bar.

Local news

Airports are back in the news. I wrote articles recently about my opposition to Heathrow expansion for the Chiswick Calendar and LabourList.  My campaigning against a third runway precedes my twenty years as a west London MP. Heathrow has consistently overplayed the benefits of the scheme while downplaying the very clear negatives. If – which is disputed – we need more flights into London, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton all have capacity at a fraction of the cost and disruption.  And can be delivered much more quickly to meet the Government’s growth targets.

Better environmental news is the clean up of the Thames.  Following the opening of the Thames Tunnel,  the Port of London Authority is deconstructing Wet Wipe Island to remove 180 tonnes of wet wipes from the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge. A few years ago I took part in the annual wet wipe count to demonstrate the scale of the problem.

Plastic wet wipes not only clog up domestic  waste pipes but, as they do not break down, can easily block the whole sewage system. The Government has recently outlined plans to ban plastic wet wipes in the UK, so the island should be gone for good.

Evidence of the Thames’ renaissance was on display at this year’s Thames Tidefest festival. Now in its 11th year, Tidefest is a community festival by Kew Bridge that celebrates the River Thames.

I was joined by Hounslow Mayor and Chiswick Riverside Councillor Amy Croft and by Brentford MP Ruth Cadbury and we saw the variety of fish and eels living in that part of the Thames. We also lent our support to the In the Drink campaign that aims to tackle the issue of plastic glasses ending up in the river from riparian pubs.

It was great to see so many residents enjoying the Thames safely, in canoes, kayaks and other river craft.

Two weeks past I attended the opening of Chiswick Health Centre in Fishers Lane. This impressive new NHS facility houses three practices, with 15 GPs serving 22,000 patients. The new Centre has a whole floor for mental health services and includes lots of community space. With the Mayor I was invited to join the seated ballet class. The opening was also attended by the GPs who set up the original health centre in 1978, then an innovative way to run primary care.

Another piece of good news for Chiswick folk is that Chiswick Post Office has reopened after four months of closure.

I maintained regular contact with Post Office Ltd throughout the closure as a number of issues were resolved before it could reopen. It is disappointing that it closed for so long and like the whole Post Office network nothing is certain for the future.  I met the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited in Parliament last week.  They appear committed to a nationwide network but not to individual buildings or locations. Certainly busy town centres like Chiswick, Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush should be able to sustain a Post Office and I will continue to engage with then to achieve this.

Hammersmith bookworms may be aware that the Amnesty Bookshop on King Street was at risk of closure. This is a very popular local bookshop and I know many residents are campaigning for it to remain open. I made a number of enquiries to Amnesty International and have been told that the shop’s closure has been paused. I will continue to do what I can to support it.  That part of King Street should see more footfall once the Civic Campus opens.

Last week residents from the Uxbridge Road area presented a petition to H&F council calling for environmental and public safety improvements to the area.  I have taken many of these issues up with local councillors and the police as well as carrying out street surgeries in the area to hear residents’ views.  The council is committing more resources to the area and there is more patrolling, but residents are entitled to feel safe and comfortable in their neighbourhood so this is a work in progress.

I have also been talking to the police about the proposed closure of the public counter at Hammersmith police station, meaning the nearest 24-hour access point will be at Acton PS.  I understand the pressure the Met is under but, after the closure of Shepherds Bush and Chiswick PS it is essential residents feel they can quickly get hold of officers in an emergency.

Local transport

Transport for London has been consulting on the future of a number of local bus routes in west London. Firstly on the future of the 72 and 283 bus routes where TfL have proposed to withdraw the 283 route between Hammersmith Bus Station and East Acton, and reroute the 72 via the White City Estate to compensate for the withdrawal of the 283.

I am concerned that these changes will lead to longer journey times and will mean that White City and Wood Lane stations will have fewer buses serving them. The consultation has now closed, but Hammersmith and Fulham Council has formally objected to this change and I will be following up on this once the results from the consultation are known.

The second consultation is on the 209 and 533 routes. While these changes mainly affect Barnes, the 533 does run through Chiswick and Hammersmith and the proposal would involve removing the 533 service and replacing it with an extended 209 service.

The consultation for this closes on 22 October, and I would encourage those affected to submit their comments.

Chiswick residents were irritated to learn that repairs to the footbridge at Chiswick Station are expected to take far longer than expected with it potentially remaining closed until February 2026.

The works were initially expected to run from 2 August until 15 September. However, on 11 September – 4 days before expected reopening – Network Rail announced that the condition of the footbridge was worse than anticipated, and additional works are needed.

It is outrageous that works that were due to take six weeks will now likely take six months. I have written to Network Rail to ask for a better explanation and that they do more to expedite the work.

A weak link in our local transport network is the Richmond branch of the District Line. Never a reliable service, recent months have seen it decline further with multiple delays and closures. It doesn’t help that Network rail own the line but TfL are its main users.  There are similar issues around access at Gunnersbury station.

Billions have been spent upgrading the District line and signalling and rolling stock are significantly better, but still Richmond lets the side down.  I am pressing TfL and Network Rail for answers.

Another station that is a victim of pass the parcel between TfL and Network Rail is Olympia.  I met with residents in August to discuss this and other local transport issues as the major development around the exhibition centre comes on stream.  The huge additional footfall could create problems for traffic and parking in the area, though residents and councillors are working to mitigate this.  But it should provide the catalyst for restoring a timetabled tube service to Olympia station, if only we can get the rail companies to agree.

Local Events

Chiswick’s Apple Day in front of Chiswick Library was a chance to show my proficiency (or otherwise) at apple bobbing. We also learned juice making and heard about Chiswick’s fruit heritage. If you missed this event, Fulham Palace is hosting its very popular annual Apple Day on Sunday 5 October.

There have been loads of late summer events this September. Grove Park Group held its summer party at St Paul’s Church.  The flower market celebrated its fifth birthday.  Rivercourt Methodist Church held an International Festival.

Gunnersbury Park Gardens Estate celebrated its centenary as one of the first garden suburbs in England and asked me to open their Dog Show.

I was privileged to be a judge again at the Chiswick Dog Show last Sunday.  This year I was co-judging the ‘prettiest bitch aged 5-8’.  From a very strong field we chose Lola, a Leonberger therapy dog, as our winner, but every entrant was special.

Strand on the Green Association put on a great event for the Great River Race, and the Mayor and I dressed as pirates.

I am very grateful to the Chiswick Horticulture and Allotments Society  for welcoming me to their Autumn Show – I can testify that it is a great year for apples, damsons, tomatoes – and cake.

In Hammersmith cultural life continues apace.  I saw Dracula at the Lyric Theatre last week and recommend it to anyone not of a nervous disposition.  And I also opened the new Practically Magic exhibition to mark 70 years of the William Morris Society.  Details of when you can see it at Kelmscott House on Upper Mall are here.