Andy Burnham is poised to impose sanctions on Israel, despite warnings that it could undermine Britain’s security.

The Prime Minister is close to agreeing a package of measures that is expected to agree a ban on imports from goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

He is thought to have briefed Donald Trump on the plans during a phone call on Monday night in a bid to contain an expected White House backlash.

The package could be announced as soon as Tuesday morning. 

However, Downing Street said that Mr Burnham has not spoken to Israeli leader Benjamin Netenyahu since becoming PM in July, despite Israel being a key ally in the Middle East.

Labour is under intense pressure from activists to toughen its position on Israel after losing votes to the Greens and so-called Gaza Independents.

Concern about settlements has been mounting for years. It has intensified following Israel’s recent decision to open tenders for 1,200 homes east of Jerusalem, which would divide the West Bank.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband last week said the plan was ‘crossing a red line’ and ‘illegal under international law’.

Israeli settlers have been accused of endangering the two-state solution by seizing land recognised by Britain as belonging to Palestinians

Ed Miliband has said he wants a ‘comprehensive reset’ of relations with Israel, which has long been a key Middle East ally of the UK

He said the proposal ‘cuts through the heart of the West Bank and risks making a Palestinian state unviable’.

Mr Miliband said Labour wanted a ‘comprehensive reset’ of relations with Israel.

Mr Burnham has said the Israeli proposals could ‘imperil or end’ the dream of a two-state solution, which successive British governments have supported for years.

But sanctioning Israel could trigger a major backlash.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar warned last week that his country would retaliate, adding: ‘If they act, I think they will be making a big mistake.’

Conservative shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat warned the move could imperil security cooperation credited with saving British lives.

He urged ministers to ‘put our own national interests and our own national security first’, adding: ‘That means that where we have friends and allies who provide us with intelligence in order to keep us safe we should work with them.’

Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said: ‘Labour’s desperation to win back hard-Left and Islamist voters from the Greens is stupidly self-defeating.

‘Ed Miliband’s kamikaze mission to take a wrecking ball to the relationship with one of most important security partners and economic interests is student politics at its most destructive. It also gives licence to the Jew haters to be even more antisemitic.’

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has said sanctions will be ‘counterproductive’ and warned they could trigger further hostility towards British Jews.

He said it was ‘difficult to escape the painful conclusion that domestic political considerations are driving foreign policy, the impact of which is negative both for prospects for peace in the Middle East and for the UK Jewish community’.

Sir William Shawcross of the UK Israel Alliance said: ‘This is an appalling mistake by a weak government which ignores British national interests. Ed Miliband is damaging a crucial relationship with the only democracy in the Middle East that makes this country much safer. This reckless anti-Israel stunt will embolden our extremist enemies and drive further anti-Jewish racism.’

Ministers are also braced for an angry reaction from the White House.

Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, accused Mr Miliband of ‘Jew hate’ after he posted a video claiming that medicines had been blocked from entering Gaza.

Downing Street said it ‘completely rejected’ the US claim, saying the government was ‘committed to protecting the Jewish community in the UK’.

No 10 declined to comment on the timing of the sanctions announcement.

But the PM appears to have discussed the proposals during a phone call with President Trump on Monday night.

A No 10 spokesman said Mr Burnham ‘set out the UK’s commitment to working towards peace and security in the region, stressing the importance of the two-state solution’.