Chris Mason: Burnham looks to show he will go further than Starmer with West Bank sanctions

Chris Mason: Burnham looks to show he will go further than Starmer with West Bank sanctions

It is hoped that coordinated action minimises the blowback to any one country from Israel or America, our political editor writes.

The UK's decision to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is another significant shift in Britain's posture in the Middle East.

The announcement from the Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, with the Prime Minister Andy Burnham alongside him in the House of Commons, comes almost exactly a year after the UK formally recognised a Palestinian state.

Senior figures argue that this latest announcement is both a logical extension of that decision and also an expression of Burnham's desire to go further than his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer was willing.

This latest announcement is both a logical extension of that decision of 12 months ago, senior figures argue, but also, in words and actions, an expression of Burnham's desire to go further than his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer was willing.

It is, Miliband believes, a re-assertion of the logic of eventually arriving at a two-state solution – a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The foreign secretary passionately argued that the UK did have agency and could act – and to do nothing would amount to failure.