Britain's Unions Back an Israel Boycott for the First Time
Britain's Trades Union Congress, representing more than 5.3 million workers, voted to support boycott and sanctions against Israel at its annual conference in Brighton in September 2026.
What the TUC decided
According to Al Jazeera, it was the first time the Congress backed the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS is a campaign that urges economic pressure through boycotts, withdrawal of investments, and government penalties. The motion was put forward by Artists' Union England and listed as Motion 77, 'Palestine: support for boycott, divestment and sanctions'.
The text calls on the UK government to impose wide-ranging sanctions on Israel. Sanctions are trade or financial restrictions used to pressure a government. The motion demands action to oppose the 'catastrophic destruction of Gaza' and Israeli settler violence supported by the Israeli army. It includes campaigning to end UK military cooperation and arms deals with Israel. Congress records show Motion 77 also calls for promoting workplace days of action for the Palestinian-led BDS movement, in wording published on 16 August 2026.
What happened around the vote
The union vote followed government action on settlement trade. The United Kingdom was set to announce a trade ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and then announced sanctions on those settlements. The announcement was reported on 9 September by the BBC.
Israel responded with a diplomatic countermeasure. Israel gave Britain 30 days to close its East Jerusalem consulate in response to sanctions on goods from settlements, according to Reuters. That consulate has long functioned as Britain's principal channel to the Palestinians.
Inside Israel, the British sanctions drew different responses. Prominent Israelis welcomed the new UK sanctions as a necessary response to settlement expansion and spiralling violence in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli politicians have condemned settler violence, according to The Guardian.
What came before
Earlier Congresses took related votes. Congress records for 2024 show Motion 77 stating that Palestinian trade unions called on counterparts to end all forms of complicity with Israel's crimes. Composite motion C17 that year, a text that merges similar proposals, stated that Israel's military assault on Gaza killed over 35,000 Palestinians and injured more than 70,000. In 2025, Motion 71, titled 'The crisis in Palestine', was merged into composite motion C14. That composite stated that Israel's onslaught on Gaza killed over 55,000 Palestinians, including 18,000 children, according to TUC Congress.
The broader context here is institutional as much as diplomatic. Trade unions do not set foreign policy. They shape its domestic boundaries. A composite motion backed by a confederation of this size creates a mandate for workplace campaigns, pension scrutiny, procurement pressure and political lobbying, all instruments that operate below the level of state sanctions but can alter the costs of commercial engagement. For ministers, the question is whether union demands for a full arms break and broad sanctions converge with or complicate a calibrated settlements-only trade policy. For employers and pension trustees, the language on complicity and days of action points toward disputes not in Parliament but in workplaces and boardrooms. The next test will be how literally affiliates implement the mandate, and whether the government treats the Congress vote as pressure to expand existing settlement measures or as a position it can acknowledge while holding its current line.
