Group Of Labour Peers Offer To Investigate Party's "Toxic" Anti-Semitism Problem

15 July 2019, 17:44 | Updated: 15 July 2019, 19:48

In a letter to Jeremy Corbyn, leading Labour peers offer to help target "toxic and endemic problem" of anti-Semitism.

Four leading Labour peers have written to Jeremy Corbyn, offering suggestions as to how best to combat address the issue of anti-Semitism within the party.

They offered to establish a panel to review the allegations of former party staffers made in a TV documentary about antisemitism in the Labour Party.

The Labour peers said in their letter that it was "heartbreaking" to attack those who spoke out in the documentary.

They stressed that whatever criticisms there are of the documentary, Labour must demonstrate that it takes "seriously the allegations contained rather than criticise the individuals who made them."

The peers - Baroness Angela Smith, the party’s leader in the Lords, her deputy, Baroness Dianne Hayter, the chairman of the peers’ group, Lord Toby Harris, and Lord Tommy McAvoy, the chief whip - offered to set up a completely independent complaints process "that is not open to any manipulation or interference by the Leadership or any grouping or faction within the Party."

They stressed that such measures would be crucial to rebuilding confidence in the Party and its processes and to regaining the trust of its members, supporters and the wider public.

They concluded the letter with a plea to Jeremy Corbyn: “As the leader of our party you have a responsibility to ensure that we do this. In particular, you need to demonstrate decisive leadership that Labour is determined and committed to do everything possible to remove antisemitism, and those that defend it, from our party.

The peers stressed: "Without full openness, this is a cancer that will continue to grow – and, in hurting us, it will most hurt those that need a Labour government.”