Leaders send their new year greetings

BRITAIN’S POLITICAL leaders have issued goodwill messages to the Jewish community for the new year.

Theresa May, marking her first Rosh Hashanah as Prime Minister, wished the community and Jews around the world “a very happy and peaceful new year”.

She said: “At this special time of celebration and prayer, we remember the tremendous contribution made by Britain’s Jewish community to this country over the years.

“I want to ensure that Britain is a place where all our communities can flourish. So — as the Jewish New Year begins — I want to renew my unshakeable vow to stand by our Jewish community now and for the years to come.

She promised redoubled efforts to stamp out antisemitism, adding: “I will do everything in my power to protect your community.”

Jeremy Corbyn, re-elected as Labour leader last weekend, sent his “warmest greetings”.

He said: “This is a sacred and beautiful time for contemplation, celebration and new beginnings. This is my promise to you: Labour must and will be a party that represents all communities across Britain, to challenge inequality and injustice wherever we find it.

“But I can’t do this alone, I need your help to make the Labour party a strong, representativeandvibrantcommunity.”

Mr Corbyn said he hoped to “usher in a happy and peaceful new year” with the community, and to campaign for “our shared values of peace, justice and equality”.

His Labour colleague Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said he was “hugely grateful for the warmth and best wishes extended to me by the Jewish community”. As a British Muslim, he said he had experienced discrimination. “That’s why I promise to fight racism in all its forms and will make challengingthe alarmingrisein antisemitism a priority.” Jews in the capital were a “shining example of London at its best”, he said.

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the country had been “consistently enriched and strengthened” by the contribution of the Jewish community.

The High Holy-Days offered an opportunity for reflection, he said. “I hope to join the spirit of this season and do some reflection of my own. I wish you all a very happy new year. Shana Tova.”

This is a sacred time for contemplation, celebration and new beginnings’