Presiding Officer of Scottish Parliament says Labour “unwilling” to deal with antisemitism

The presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood has claimed that the Labour Party is “unwilling” to deal with antisemitism.

Ken Macintosh, who used to be the Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party MSP for Eastwood before being returned on the regional list in 2016, suspended his membership of the Party upon his election as presiding officer in 2016, as is customary.

In a meeting with local Jewish community leaders, Mr Macintosh described the rise in antisemitism as “perplexing, disturbing, and extremely worrying”, revealing that “it’s upsetting that my former party seems unable or unwilling to face up to or deal with antisemitism.”

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.”