Labour publishes plan to rid party of anti-Semitism

Labour has published a new plan for handling anti-Semitism in the party.

It is a response to a highly critical report from the equalities watchdog, which found the party under its previous leadership had broken the law when handling anti-Semitism claims.

The plan has been approved by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.

It commits Labour to establishing an independent complaints process and addressing the backlog of anti-Semitism cases.

Complaints of anti-Semitism dogged the party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

• What does the Labour anti-Semitism report say?

Following the publication of the EHRC's report, Mr Corbyn was briefly suspended from the party. He was later re-admitted but denied the parliamentary whip.

'Difficult reading'

In a foreword to the new plan, the party's now leader and deputy leader, Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, said tackling anti-Semitism was "our number one priority".

The EHRC report was "incredibly difficult reading for everyone who loves our party and wants it be a force for good", the pair wrote.

"But its findings were clear and stark: the Labour Party breached the Equality Act in terms of unlawful harassment and indirect discrimination towards our Jewish members," they said, adding that the party must take action.

The party had been criticised for allowing political interference by the leader's office in the existing complaints process. The new plan commits the party to hiring external lawyers to advise panel hearings on anti-Semitism complaints.

An investigation by the EHRC found evidence of 23 instances of "inappropriate involvement" by Mr Corbyn's office out of the 70 files it looked at.

The new independents complaints process will handle any complaints of "anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, sexual harassment and any discrimination based on protected characteristics".

Sir Keir and Ms Rayner said they would "not hesitate to sanction those who breach our rules and regulations."

The plan also includes strengthening social media guidelines and due-diligence checks for prospective Labour candidates.

'Toxic culture'

The party will also set up an advisory board of Jewish members and developing educational material on anti-Semitism.

This comes after the EHRC found the party had not provided adequate training for those responsible for handling complaints.

The Jewish Labour Movement, one of the party's affiliate groups, said many of the plan's steps are "those the JLM has been asking the party to implement for years".

In a statement on Twitter, the group said it was disappointed that it took the intervention of the EHRC to secure the publication of the plan, but added it was "pleased that we now have a new leadership committed to act".

The statement concluded: "While we welcome the reform of processes, by itself it is not enough. Recent events have shown a toxic culture persists in many parts of the party. Solving this is as essential as introducing an independent disciplinary process."

The campaign group Labour Against Anti-Semitism said the plan "provides a good framework for tackling institutional anti-Jewish racism within the organisation."

But it called for the new process to be used in a "full review" of all historic reports of anti-Semitism since 2015, when Mr Corbyn became leader.

"Ultimately, the value of this plan will be measured by its effectiveness in driving all those who voice, promote and amplify anti-Semitic views out of the Labour Party. That objective is still, unfortunately, a long way from being met," it added.