LABOUR members in Canterbury have been blocked from calling on the government to halt sending arms to Israel.

South-East regional party chiefs gave no explanation as to why they barred a motion containing the call from being debated at an All Members Constituency Labour Party (CLP) meeting on Tuesday.

CLP chair Val Kenny announced the motion was barred from being heard, debated and voted on as the meeting began.

Long-time local Labour Party member Chris Weller said that he and other members were left outraged.

He said: ”We were told nothing about why the motion couldn’t be tabled and no-one from the South East regional office was available to comment. 

“Many in the Labour Party, like myself, feel angry and betrayed by the Labour government’s continued complicity in Israel’s military actions in Gaza, while ignoring public sentiment evidenced by the huge pro-Palestine protests since Israel’s actions in Gaza began. 

“I realise that by speaking out like this, I may well lose my party membership but I share common humanity with the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and I cannot watch their suffering and remain silent about what happened this week to block this important motion.” 

The motion read: “This CLP calls on its Labour government to immediately halt all armaments supplies to the current Israeli government due to its genocidal campaign in Gaza as reported by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

It had been passed at a Canterbury Labour Party branch meeting and was proposed by Labour Canterbury City Councillor Mike Bland and seconded by fellow Labour member Kevin Powers.

The party was contacted for comment.