Jewish Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman to face no confidence motion on Yom Kippur
Dame Louise Ellman, the veteran Jewish Labour MP and chair of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), is expected to face a no confidence motion in the St Michael’s ward Labour branch of her Liverpool Riverside constituency on the evening of Yom Kippur, during the Kol Nidrei service.
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and is marked by most Jews with fasting and synagogue attendance. Communal organisations are shut and work or public engagements are generally discouraged.
The motion apparently follows coverage of her remarks at the LFI reception at Labour Party Conference in which she expressed sympathy with those Jews who have considered leaving the country over antisemitism, saying that she “understands why Jews would seriously consider leaving Britain if Corbyn became PM”.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer has shown that 40% of British Jews have considered leaving the country due to antisemitism.
The motion reportedly says: “We have no confidence that our MP Louise Ellman will carry out the wishes of our Constituency Labour Party and our Riverside constituency or that she will follow Labour Party policy,” adding that “this branch therefore call[s] on our Riverside MP, Louise Ellman, to resign.”
On 28th May, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.
In recent months, twelve MPs and three peers have resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism, along with a large number of MEPs, councillors and members.
Over 55,000 people have now signed our petition denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite and declaring him “unfit to hold any public office.”
