EHRC report into antisemitism in the Labour Party
Campaign Against Antisemitism referred the Labour Party to the EHRC because Jew-hatred under Corbyn was out of control. Here is everything you need to know.
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report is a groundbreaking document. It is the first ever finding by the EHRC of unlawful acts. It heavily criticises the Labour Party’s former leadership. It makes clear recommendations to ensure that there is zero tolerance of antisemitism in the Party in the future. It provides a robust framework for ensuring that the Party complies.
“The EHRC’s report utterly vindicates Britain’s Jews who were accused of lying and exaggerating, acting as agents of another country and using their religion to ‘smear’ the Labour Party. In an unprecedented finding, it concludes that those who made such accusations broke the law and were responsible for illegal discrimination and harassment.
“The debate is over. Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the Labour Party became institutionally antisemitic. It drove almost half of British Jews to consider leaving the country. For five miserable years, every effort to compel Labour to reform failed. We were left with no choice but to refer the Party to the EHRC, which launched an investigation with us as complainant. The EHRC’s findings and recommendations today – that Labour’s leadership and culture created an unlawful environment that discriminated against Jews – closely align with the hundreds of pages of evidence and argument that we submitted to the EHRC over many months.
“Frankly, this report would not be much different had we written it. It is the dispensing of British justice that British Jews have sorely awaited, but has been denied for too long.
“Jeremy Corbyn and those around him who took part in or enabled the gaslighting, harassment and victimisation of Britain’s Jewish minority are shamed for all time. Those who defended and stood by them are shown to have made possible the closest flirtation that mainstream British politics has had with antisemitism in modern history.
“Sir Keir Starmer now has a long list of reforms to make, including establishing an independent disciplinary process so that those who put Britain’s Jews in fear for their future in this country can at last be held to account for their deeds. To that end, we have submitted complaints against Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and fourteen other sitting MPs and have given Labour six months to conduct transparent investigations and finally deliver justice for the Jewish community.
“We are immensely grateful to everyone who fought alongside us for this day to come. Too many of them have suffered greatly for their principles. They are the best of this country.”
Following Keir Starmer’s commitment to an independent disciplinary process, we have now submitted complaints against Jeremy Corbyn and 15 other Labour MPs, including over Mr Corbyn’s statement in response to the EHRC’s findings. We have set a 6-month deadline.
In 2015, a backbench MP named Jeremy Corbyn stood to become leader of the Labour Party. We saw him for what he was.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has been at the forefront of exposing Labour’s antisemitism in the media ever since. For years we uncovered evidence and spoke out.
In 2016, following the Chakrabarti whitewash, we were the first to declare Labour institutionally antisemitic. As we exposed Mr Corbyn’s past, in 2018 we became the only organisation to call him an antisemite. We demanded justice on the front pages and demonstrated in our thousands. But there was no justice.
We were told that holding Labour to account legally would be impossible. We disagreed.
In 2018, Campaign Against Antisemitism referred the Labour Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and became the complainant in its unprecedented statutory investigation. The Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Against Antisemitism Ltd made further submissions which supported our referral.
Over many months, Campaign Against Antisemitism’s investigators and lawyers submitted hundreds of pages of evidence and argument to the EHRC in pursuit of justice.
After many months, the EHRC has published its report. Campaign Against Antisemitism will be providing further news and analysis to our mailing list subscribers. Subscribe to receive the latest updates.
In brief: Watch our short explainer video
In detail: Campaign Against Antisemitism first approached the EHRC at the time of the Labour Party Conference in Brighton in 2017. The conference was so rife with antisemitism that Brighton and Hove City Council’s then Labour leader, Warren Morgan, told his own Party that he would not permit use of Council premises for the conference again.
Campaign Against Antisemitism carries out rigorous research to identify and expose antisemites in all political parties. We publish some of our case files and made them available to the EHRC for its investigation.