Labour Party agrees to adopt the full definition of anti-Semitism after crunch talks

WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

The Labour Party has agreed to adopt in full an international definition of anti-Semitism following crunch talks.

The party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) met on Tuesday to discuss how to defuse a row that has simmered for months, as rival groups took part in noisy protests outside Labour's HQ.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-semitism was incorporated into Labour's code of conduct two months ago.

However the party stopped short, omitting four examples of anti-semitic behaviour in the definition from its code of conduct for party members. The party will now incorporate all 11 examples.

But Labour has been criticised after stipulating that it would also publish a statement aimed at protecting free speech.

The Jewish Leadership Council responded to the decision on Tuesday evening.

Chief executive Simon Johnson said: "It has now become absolutely clear that the leader of the party attempted shamefully to undermine the entire IHRA definition.

"The 'free speech caveat' drives a coach and horses through the IHRA definition. It will do nothing to stop anti-Semitism in the party.

"Now that the NEC has undermined the definition, it is clearly more important to the Labour leader to protect the free speech of those who hate Israel than it is to protect the Jewish community from the real threats that it faces."

Critics of the IHRA approach have claimed it could restrict their ability to criticise the Israeli government's actions against Palestinians.

A Labour Party spokesman said: "The NEC has today adopted all of the IHRA examples of anti-Semitism, in addition to the IHRA definition which Labour adopted in 2016, alongside a statement which ensures this will not in any way undermine freedom of expression on Israel or the rights of Palestinians.

"The NEC welcomed Jeremy Corbyn's statement to the meeting about action against anti-Semitism, solidarity with the Jewish community and protection of Palestinian rights, as an important contribution to the consultation on Labour's Code of Conduct."

Shadow Cabinet minister and NEC member Rebecca Long-Bailey described the move as "a small step in the right direction".

She said: "We have lost faith within the Jewish community, and we know that, and it hurts pretty much all of our Labour membership to know that we are in that state of affairs at the moment.

"So, this is a first step forward but we have a number of bridges to build.

"We are going to work quite collectively with Jewish community groups now to make sure that the detail in our code of conduct really is the gold standard and we have an educational programme that rivals any other political party in the world."

Campaign group Labour Against Anti-Semitism said: "We are disappointed by the decision of Labour's governing body, the NEC, to diminish the IHRA working definition of Anti-Semitism via the attachment of a 'clarification' that risks giving racists in the party a get out of jail card.

"The NEC has been told repeatedly that it needs to adopt the IHRA in full, without caveats or conditions, if it wants the Labour Party to begin the process of dealing with its anti-Semitism crisis.

"It has ignored the requests of the Jewish community and denied the fundamental right of that community to define its own discrimination."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in