HOPEFULLY all West European countries will recognise the Palestinian state and put economic pressure on the Israelis to end their oppressive 47-year occupation.

In the Middle East it will send a powerful signal that the West really does mean what it says about the illegality of Israeli settlements and encourage the politicians who have been advocating a constitutional and non-violent route to Palestinian self-determination.

The result of a vote on a backbench motion is not binding on the government, even if the government does confer recognition, it will not make any immediate difference to the lives of millions of Palestinians in refugee camps.

One immediate difference will be that a well-fortified house in a suburb of East Jerusalem which has been acting as the unofficial British mission to the Palestinians will take down a sign reading “British Consulate-General” and put up a sign reading “British Embassy”.

The emotional difference will potentially be huge.

Britain, the country that issued the Balfour Declaration, that governed Palestine from 1922 to 1948, that left a country in turmoil with the two sides to fight it out, has been standing on the sidelines ever since, condemning Israel for its illegal settlements but taking no action.

Now the British government has finally come off the fence.

Local MPs who supported the move to recognition deserve congratulating. There has been huge public pressure on MPs. They have received may thousands of emails asking them to vote for recognition over the past couple of weeks.

Many MPs made up their mind earlier this year after the collapse of the peace talks in April, which even the Americans blamed on Israeli settlement building, the collective punishment of the West Bank in June and July, the war on Gaza which killed over 500 children and 1,400 civilians in August and the announcement of yet more illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land in September.

Ed Miliband and his shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander deserve credit for pressing the case for the recognition of Palestine, as they have done for the last four years, and for calling on his party to support the backbench motion.

There are already 135 countries that recognise Palestine, including many EU countries, and with Sweden announcing that it would recognise Palestine just last week, Britain should not wait any longer. It is a time for Britain to show leadership.

K Heyes Glazebury Drive Westhoughton