LabourList blog: EHRC antisemitism report: Labour responsible for “unlawful acts”

It has found that there were “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination for which the Labour Party is responsible”, “serious failings in leadership and an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints”.

The EHRC has concluded that Labour is responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act (2010) relating to:

Political interference in antisemitism complaints
Failure to provide adequate training to those handling antisemitism complaints
Harassment
The failure relating to political interference “mainly came from the opposition’s office”, the EHRC found, and this was “not a legitimate approach”. The interference applied to a third of the 70 case files reviewed.

The EHRC found that the failure to provide adequate training is not a currently unlawful finding because it has “not been possible” for Labour to implement this before publication of the report.

But the body has instructed the Labour Party to put in place adequate training for those handling antisemitism complaints within six months.

Analysis of evidence by the body has also found that there was a “culture” within the Labour Party that “at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it”.

The party now led by Keir Starmer has until December 10th to draft an action plan to implement the recommendations of the EHRC, and this is legally enforceable by the court if not fulfilled.

After repeatedly complaining to Labour about Jeremy Corbyn but not finding that it would open an investigation, the Campaign Against Antisemitism formally referred the party to the EHRC in July 2018.

The EHRC decided that the threshold for a full statutory investigation had been met and launched a probe in May 2019 into whether Labour had “unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish”.

It sought to determine “whether unlawful acts had been committed by the party, its employees or its agents”, and whether the party had “responded to complaints of unlawful acts in a lawful, efficient and effective manner”.

The Jewish Labour Movement made submissions including a document, leaked in a redacted form last year, that contained 70 testimonies from current and former party staffers and over 100 testimonies from members.

Labour confirmed in July 2020 that it had received the draft EHRC report. The party said it would not be commenting on the contents until the drafting process was completed, and Labour succeeded in preventing any leaks.

The EHRC was set up in 2007 under a Labour government. Section 20 of the Equality Act 2006 allows the body to carry out investigations in organisations suspected of committing unlawful discrimination.

During the statutory investigation, the EHRC was able to compel Labour to reveal details of its handling of antisemitism within the party including internal communications such as text messages and emails.