Almost 100 MPs have backed calls from Birmingham MP Richard Burden for the Government to recognise Palestine as a country in its own right, at a key United Nations vote next week.

The UK has not yet revealed how it will vote if Palestinians press ahead with an application to be officially recognised as an independent state.

Plans to apply for formal “observer state” status were announced before the recent conflict in Gaza, which is part of the territory which would make up a Palestinian state.

But the vote, expected on November 29, now follows a week-long conflict which is believed to have killed 150 Palestinians and five Israelis.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will visit New York, where the United Nations is based, next week.

He leads the Palestinian Authority, which is recognised as the body representing the Palestinians and is based in the West Bank, an area which would also form part of a Palestinian state.

However, Gaza is governed by Islamist group Hamas, which led the conflict with Israel.

The US and Israel both oppose Palestine’s bid for observer state status. Although this would not make Palestine a member of the United Nations, in practice it would mean it was recognised as a state.

The United Kingdom has urged the Palestinians to delay their request. However, David Cameron has said this does not mean the UK would necessarily vote against a request if it was made.

Mr Burden (Lab Northfield) has sponsored a Commons motion stating: “This House supports recognition by the UN of Palestine as a state alongside the state of Israel.”

It was signed by 95 MPs including Jim Cunningham (Lab Coventry South), Roger Godsiff (Lab Birmingham Hall Green), John Hemming (Lib Dem Birmingham Yardley), David Winnick (Lab Walsall North) and Valerie Vaz (Lab Walsall South).

The formal position of the United Nations, and of the British government, is that there should be two states in the region, Palestine and Israel. However, while Israel has been an independent country since 1948, the Palestinians have never had their own independent state.