Local politicians react to equality watchdog’s report on antisemitism in Labour

Local politicians reacted today to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report which found that the Labour party is responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination carried out while Jeremy Corbyn was leader.

The report also testifies to “serious failings in leadership” and an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints that was open to political interference from the leader’s office.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer described the findings as a “day of shame” for the party.

Starmer has now promised to implement the EHRC’s recommendations in full, and was swiftly backed by both Hackney South MP Meg Hillier and Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville.

Mayor Glanville said: “I fully support Keir Starmer’s comments this morning: the report’s conclusions leave no room for equivocation; this is a day of shame for the Labour party. I stand in solidarity with the Jewish Labour Movement and all who were victims of antisemitism in the party and fought to raise these issues publicly.

“It is on all of us in the Labour party to root out antisemitism, and make sure our party is once again, an open and welcoming place for people from all backgrounds.

“From supporting the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism in the council to leading the #NoPlaceForHate campaign, Hackney Labour will always stand against antisemitism in our local party and our borough.”

Corbyn has now been suspended from Labour and will sit as an independent MP for Islington North, following his swift reaction to the EHRC report that antisemitism in Labour had been “dramatically overstated” by political opponents.

He later added that a “false impression” had been created of the number of members accused of antisemitism, not one of the seriousness of the problem.

While Starmer today said that his test of reform in the party would be whether those who no longer felt safe in Labour could feel able to return again, local Conservative party Cllr Simche Steinberger, reacting to the report, had little faith that such a goal was achievable, accusing Glanville of “double standards” for his support of Starmer having formerly supported Corbyn.

Steinberger said: “I’m not surprised at anything today. Unfortunately, the cancer in the Labour party is very big. It’s not just Corbyn. I’m sad to say that I don’t feel the Labour party in Hackney understand the Jewish community, to be honest. I really feel that there has to be training from top to bottom to understand more the ethnicity and people’s needs. It starts with small things and goes to much higher up.

“I didn’t think the Labour party would ever throw Corbyn out, because there are so many Corbyns in the Labour party. Whilst I’m shocked about what’s happened today, I’m not surprised. I’ve been around in Hackney a long time, and I definitely would not feel at home in the Labour party. It’s rotten through and through.

“It’s got to the point where I feel it a little bit myself, when I sit in the council. Without mentioning names, I think to myself, do I really want to be in this chamber? Me being Jewish, I feel sick in that chamber, to be honest. It’s not a pleasure to sit there, put it that way. This report will start something, and will keep going for months to come.”

The report found that Labour is responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act through political interference in antisemitism complaints, harassment, and a failure to provide adequate training to handlers of the complaints.

Following the report, Hackney North Diane Abbott MP now is the subject of a new complaint, along with a number of other sitting and former Labour MPs, by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAS).

CAS have made complaints against Corbyn, Abbott and 14 other Labour MPs, saying that this group have breached the party’s conditions of membership by saying that “complaints about antisemitism in the Labour party were (and are) simply ‘a smear’, victimised those making allegations of antisemitism within the party, or engaged in antisemitic acts themselves”.

Speaking shortly after the release of the report, Hackney South MP Meg Hillier said: “We need to take this report and finally tackle the scourge of antisemitism after a shameful period in Labour’s history.

“As Keir Starmer says, there is no place in the Labour Party for antisemites or those who deny the problem.”

Speaking towards the end of today, Hackney North MP Diane Abbott said: “Divided parties don’t win elections. I oppose the decision to suspend Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party and will work for his reinstatement.

“For us the fight against antisemitism and all forms of racism is central to the struggle for better world.”