Eight members of Labour’s ruling NEC vote against rule changes mandated by EHRC, while new poll of potential Labour voters shows Jeremy Corbyn’s failures on antisemitism drag Party down

Eight members of the Labour Party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) voted against rule changes mandated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Eighteen members of the NEC voted in favour of the semi-independent disciplinary process that Labour is required to implement under its Action Plan agreed with the EHRC, outweighing the eight who opposed the measure. It is not clear how the minority expected their Party to fulfil the EHRC’s legally-mandated conditions had the vote failed.

It is understood that the eight to vote against were Mish Rahman, Gemma Bolton and Nadia Jama, who represent Constituency Labour Parties (the Party’s grassroot local branches); Ian Murray of the Fire Brigades Union; Andi Fox of the TSSA union; Yasmine Dar, the pro-Corbyn former chair of Labour’s disputes panel who did not believe that the Party has a problem of institutional antisemitism even as her brother was suspended over antisemitism allegations; Mick Whelan of the ASLEF union; and Andy Kerr of the Communication Workers Union.

Meanwhile, a new poll by Yonder (formerly Populus) for Labour Uncut shows that just over a quarter (26%) of non-Labour voters would consider voting for the Party at the next election, but six in ten of this group (60%) said that they would be more likely to vote for the Labour Party if Jeremy Corbyn is expelled if he fails to apologise over antisemitism.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We have been calling for the expulsion of Jeremy Corbyn for a long time over his Party’s institutional antisemitism and his own. This poll shows that the public agrees with this stance, as ordinary decent people recognise that Labour cannot return to its anti-racist legacy while Jeremy Corbyn and his acolytes retain such influence.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has lodged a complaint against Mr Corbyn, holding him responsible for conduct that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party, as the Leader during the period of the EHRC’s shameful findings. Given the serious detriment that this conduct has caused, we are seeking Mr Corbyn’s immediate resuspension and, if the complaint is upheld, we will be requesting his expulsion. On the day of the publication of the EHRC’s report, we also submitted a major complaint against Mr Corbyn and other sitting MPs. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and they must be investigated by an independent disciplinary process that the EHRC has demanded and Sir Keir has promised but has yet to introduce.

The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.