CAA provides our ground-breaking report on adoption of International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities to Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick as a resource for his department
Campaign Against Antisemitism has provided our new ground-breaking report on adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by local authorities to the Rt Hon. Robert Jenrick MP, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as a resource for his department.
Mr Jenrick has been a champion of the campaign for widespread adoption of the Definition by local authorities, recently warning local authorities that those refusing to adopt the Definition would risk losing public funding.
In September 2019, Mr Jenrick declared that “there is no place for antisemitic abuse” and regretted that local authorities had not followed the Government in adopting the Definition, and indicated that he was taking action to encourage wider adoption. In October 2019 Mr Jenrick wrote to all local authorities in England urging them to adopt the Definition, and in January 2020 Mr Jenrick reiterated his policy, announcing in the House of Commons that he was “requiring all councils to adopt it forthwith”. Mr Jenrick followed up later that month by warning that any local authorities that expressly refused to adopt the Definition would be named and could expect to lose public funding if they failed to tackle antisemitism.
In the letter, Campaign Against Antisemitism said that “We are delighted to provide you with our new, ground-breaking report, published today, that investigates how many and which local authorities have adopted the Definition to date, and which have not.”
In addition to documenting the adoption of the Definition (or otherwise) by each and every local authority in the country, the painstaking report also provides important insights into how disciplinary processes function at the local level and makes significant recommendations as to how these processes can be enhanced in order to eradicate racism from local politics.
The full letter can be read below, and the report can be accessed here: https://antisemitism.org/councils/
