Labour and UKIP left isolated as Liberal Democrats prepare to join Conservatives and SNP in adopting International Definition of Antisemitism

The Liberal Democrats are reportedly set to join the Scottish National Party and Conservative Party in adopting the International Definition of Antisemitism in full, this Tuesday.

The move leaves the Labour Party and UKIP as the only two parties to have publicly refused to adopt the definition.

Last week, senior members of UKIP blocked acceptance of the definition by the Party, claiming that it would restrict “freedom of speech”.

Elizabeth Jones, a UKIP National Executive Committee (NEC) member, insisted that the definition would restrict party members’ freedoms in response to fellow NEC-member Pat Bryant’s suggestion that adopting the definition would “put Labour on the back foot”.

Other senior UKIP officials voiced their concern about signing up to the globally recognised definition of antisemitism during election campaigns and as antisemitism is already covered in the Party’s existing rules against discrimination.

The Party’s General Secretary, Paul Oakley, challenged this stance by saying that it would be right to adopt the definition as anyone spreading antisemitic abuse would be in breach of the Party’s constitution.

If the Liberal Democrats accept the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism without caveats or unnecessary additions, it will leave UKIP and the Labour Party as awkward bedfellows, out in the cold.