Labour’s Rachel Reeves made a sharp exit after being ambushed by a furious voter as she campaigned in Leeds.
A video clip shared on social media shows the Shadow Chancellor and Labour volunteers canvassing at the end of a week in which her party won both the Kingswood and Wellingborough by-elections.
Ms Reeves is then approached by a woman who initially wishes her well in the general election which is almost certain to be held later this year.
However, the woman then says: “The only thing is that we’re really concerned Rachel. What’s your current position in respect of what’s happening in Gaza at the moment?”
Ms Reeves then suggests she and the woman “have this conversation separately” (and presumably off-camera).
The woman replies: “We’ve tried to have this conversation and you’ve not been available.”
Ms Reeves then asked if the woman lives in her Leeds West constituency, which she admits she does not, but replies: “I’m not but I am a Muslim living in the UK and I pay my taxes.”
A member of Ms Reeves’s staff then interjects, saying she has to speak to a “wide range of constituents every week”.
The woman then says: “Is there a reason why you can’t answer the question? They’re only simple questions.”
At this point Ms Reeves and her colleague begin walking away, and the woman follows her, saying: “Its just simple questions like, ‘How do you feel about Israel turning off the water and Rachel would you be able to live without water? Just for one day without water?
“You voted against a ceasefire on November 16. What is your position on a ceasefire now?
“The children are digging a hole for water and Rachel it is just so sad.
“How would you like to keep children out of under rubble? Have you got children Rachel? I’ve got a daughter. I’ve got a 19 year old daughter.”
Ms Reeves then gets into a grey car which drives off as the woman continues to shout after her, before rounding on party activists and asking: “How can you how can you be with the Labour Party? This is a humanitarian issue.”
Speaking at Scottish Labour’s annual conference today, party leader Sir Keir Starmer likewise avoided committing to a ceasefire, telling delegates: “Any ceasefire cannot be one-sided.
“It must stop all acts of violence, on both sides, it must lead to a genuine peace process.
“Because the offensive threatened on Rafah – a place where 1.5 million people are now cramped together in unimaginable conditions with nowhere else for them to go – this cannot become a new theatre of war. That offensive cannot happen.
“And even in this most terrible of circumstances the two-state solution must be back on the table.
“A safe and secure Israel – where the horror that Hamas inflicted on October 7, the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, can never happen again.
“And alongside that, a viable Palestinian state. A state which is not in the gift of any neighbour.
“But is an inalienable right of the Palestinian people and is recognised by this party and the world.”
