Labour MPs have renewed their calls for an independent complaints system to tackle the party’s antisemitism complaints.
A BBC Panaroma documentary aired last night claimed senior aides to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tried to interfere in disciplinary processes.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper tweeted this afternoon that the party should respond to the allegations “with humility not hostility” and “action not aggression”. She added that the party should introduce “a new independent and transparent complaints system with zero tolerance on antisemitism.”
Despairing at some of party reaction. When Jewish members tell us they don’t feel safe in our party, when Jewish community say they’re fearful, when long serving staff bravely speak up, it is deeply shaming. Our party shd respond with humility not hostility, action not aggression
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) July 11, 2019
Cooper’s calls follow those of other MPs, including Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer and the party’s deputy leader Tom Watson. Both called for a system of automatic exclusion for those with a clear case of antisemitism against them.
I am not going to turn a blind eye to anti-Jewish racism. We can sort this mess. But we need a full, independent disciplinary system, and powers to auto-exclude prima facie cases of anti-semitism. Only then can Labour start to rebuild trust with the Jewish community. @BBCr4today pic.twitter.com/9KWftPcIr9
— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) July 11, 2019
