Government intends to ban councils from divisive boycotts that intimidate Jews

The Government has confirmed that it will honour its manifesto pledge to ban local councils and public bodies from, in the Prime Minister’s words, “taking it upon themselves to boycott goods from other countries to develop their own pseudo-foreign policy against a country which with nauseating frequency turns out to be Israel.”

The Prime Minister made the remarks in the debate over the Queen’s speech in the House of Commons.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that 76% of British Jews felt intimidated by tactics used to boycott Israel. This figure is consistent with findings over the past several years.