Sir Keir wants anti-Semitism probe to have access to all Labour’s staff
LABOUR COULD implement rule changes and should also allow equality inspectors access to all of its staff members as the party continues to address its anti-Semitism issue, leadership hopeful Sir Keir Starmer said.
Visiting Batley yesterday, the MP also backed an “element” of independence in regard to investigations into racism in the party.
Speaking to The Yorkshire
Post, he was asked what his first significant action as Labour leader would be to stamp out anti-Semitism.
He said: “Absolute clarity: if you’re anti-Semitic, you shouldn’t be in the Labour Party. And I would take a personal lead on this as leader of the Labour Party and ensure that I wasn’t asking somebody else to take responsibility, that I was taking responsibility for it. I do think there are rule changes that we can make in the Labour Party, but most importantly we need to rebuild our trust with the Jewish community and I don’t think we can do that until those that have left our party because of antiSemitism feel comfortable to return to our party.”
Asked what rule changes he envisioned, he said: “So far I’ve argued for the international definition of anti-Semitism, which we’ve now adopted, that those who are clearly antiSemitic should be excluded much more quickly from our party and also that now the European Human Rights Commission are looking at the Labour Party, we should open our books and allow access to all our staff so that the commission can get right into the weeds of what the problems are and give us strong recommendations.”