SIR KEIR STARMER’S recognition of Palestinian statehood risks being “nothing short of hypocrisy” without action to help reunite families, campaigners said today.

Gaza Families Reunited issued the warning after Battersea Labour MP Marsha de Cordova pressed the government to respond to an open letter, signed dozens of MPs in June, calling for a Ukrainian-style visa scheme for people from the Palestinian territory.

In her letter sent to the Prime Minister and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Wednesday, Ms de Cordova said: “It is more urgent than ever that we help the family members of British citizens and residents currently trapped in Gaza.

“As we know, in Gaza, 65,419 people are reported to have been killed and 167,160 injured.”

The proposed Gaza family visa scheme “would be a practical next step that would help bring people to safety and help us, as a nation, live up to our highest values on the global stage,” she added.

The letter, sent to Sir Keir on June 29, was signed by 35 Labour MPs and peers, including Ms de Cordova, Clive Lewis, Stella Creasy, Richard Burgon, Kim Johnson, Afzal Khan, Rachael Maskell, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Andy Slaughter and Alex Sobel.

Former Labour frontbenchers Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell also signed, as did all four Green MPs, two Liberal Democrats, several Northern Ireland MPs, two from the SNP and Bishop of Chelmsford Dr Guli Francis-Dehquani.

Only one Conservative, Baroness Helic, a former special adviser to William Hague, signed the letter, which expresses the politicians’ “grave concern at the immense suffering inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza.”

The Home Office was contacted for comment.