The Labour Party is bracing itself for the publication of a damning report by the equalities watchdog, which is likely to rule that it acted unlawfully in its treatment of Jewish members.
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will publish the recommendations from its long-awaited inquiry on Thursday morning, addressing what one shadow cabinet minister called “the most shameful moment” in the party’s history.
It is an especially crucial moment for Jeremy Corbyn, under whose leadership the party was accused of institutional antisemitism. A string of MPs resigned, accusing the leadership of enabling antisemitism during his five-year leadership.
Corbyn is expected to make a statement after the report is made public, as is Sir Keir Starmer.
Speaking on Wednesday, Jonathan Ashworth – the shadow health secretary – said that the antisemitism crisis had been “a shameful period in our history, and we have to be clear that we are never going back to that, and we will do everything we can to repair relations with the Jewish community who are understandably and quite rightly hurt by the Labour party’s failure to deal with this in recent years”.
The EHRC review was launched in 2019, after whistleblowers accused the party of being institutionally antisemitic in its handling of complaints and within local party structures.
Expected to be more than 100 pages long, the report is believed to have investigated ex-Labour mayor of London Ken Livingstone and former MP Chris Williamson, both of whom were suspended by the party, charged with antisemitism.
The review is released at 10am. Stay tuned.
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