Euan Philipps, spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism,
said:
“The Labour Together report published today, which reviews the
Labour Party’s 2019 general election defeat, correctly identifies
antisemitism as a feature of Labour’s defeat. Unfortunately, in
our opinion the report fails to understand or address its
antisemitism crisis in anywhere near sufficient detail.
The recommendations for how the party (and the broader Labour
movement) can tackle the institutional anti-Jewish racism that
turned so many voters off in 2019 do not come close to being
adequate. Firstly, in our view there needs to be a thorough
recognition of the history and roots of the culture of left-wing
antisemitism and antizionism that pervades the Labour Party and
pre-dates Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
Secondly, we feel there should be a recognition that the formal
party structures were found desperately wanting when action on
tackling antisemitism was required – which led to organisations
like LAAS having to resort to EHRC intervention as the only means
of forcing change.
We believe this report was a missed opportunity by the party to
show genuine contrition and take steps towards self-awareness,
which would help it move forwards and effectively address its
multiple challenges.”
