Labour formally lays out plan to tackle antisemitism in wake of EHRC report
Party says it has submitted draft action plan to the equalities watchdog, with issue of political interference in claims of Jew-hate a major focus for change
Labour has formally set out how it plans to tackle antisemitism after being legally required to do so by a statutory body two months ago.
On Thursday, a Labour Party spokesperson said it had now submitted its draft action plan to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), after a stinging 130-page report in October concluded that the party had acted unlawfully.
“The plan sets out how the EHRC’s recommendations will be implemented in full,” they said. “Once it has been agreed by the EHRC, we will meet regularly with the EHRC to monitor our progress in ridding our party of antisemitism and rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.”
One of the biggest areas of concern throughout Labour’s five-year antisemitism crisis has been the Party’s complaints handling process, which several whistleblowers alleged was subject to political influence when it should have been independent.
The EHRC told Labour it “must rebuild trust and confidence” with the Jewish community that it was handling antisemitism complaints effectively, including “education, training, and resourcing of the complaint handling process”.
In a series of other damaging recommendations, the EHRC told Labour to “live up to its commitment to be a political party with zero tolerance of antisemitism” so that “all Jewish members feel welcome”.
To do that, it said Labour “should continue to build on its new leadership’s statement regarding its failure to deal with antisemitism and acknowledge its responsibility for not living up to its commitment to zero tolerance of antisemitism”.
On the day of the report, former Labour leader struck the opposite tone, saying numbers had been inflated. He was subsequently suspended from the Party and had the whip withdrawn. To-date, he remains an Independent MP.
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