Ruth Smeeth on EHRC: “It’s an appalling day for the Labour Party”

Former Labour MP Ruth Smeeth has described today as an “appalling day for the Labour Party” ahead of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission report into antisemitism being released at 10am.

Smeeth, who was one of Labour’s few Jewish MPs, told Good Morning Britain that she expected the report to find “clear” evidence of antisemitism in the Labour Party and said the party’s future rested on “how Keir Starmer responds”.

She said: “We know that it’s taken 18 months, it’s going to be comprehensive, it’s going to be quite narrow in focus and talk about policies and procedures that need to be changed within the Labour Party and about whether there has been a culture of antisemitism.

“I think the evidence is going to be clear that they’re going to find that there has been a level of discrimination against Jewish members within the Labour Party. And so it’s an appalling day for the Labour Party, it’s a black day in our history.

“And I think everything rests today with, not just on the report, but how Keir Starmer responds to the report later today and demonstrates that we are under new leadership.

“And that he is going to fix this, not just procedurally, but also culturally. We can’t have a situation where anybody feels unsafe at a Labour Party meeting and that’s where we were.”

Smeeth, vice-chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, created a pivotal moment for the party when she introduced Starmer at Labour’s online conference this year before the new leader delivered his keynote speech.

Former Labour MP @RuthSmeeth tells @CharlotteHawkns what she expects from Keir Starmer when the long-awaited report into antisemitism in the Labour party from the Human Rights watchdog, is published.

She adds that ‘it’s an appalling day for the Labour party.’ pic.twitter.com/Da67HhRMZe

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) October 29, 2020

The EHRC launched an investigation in May 2019 into “whether The Labour Party has unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish”. Its findings will be published this morning.

Smeeth served as Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North from 2015 to 2019. She has been vocal about the party’s problem with antisemitism under Jeremy Corbyn and has frequently described the abuse she faced as a prominent Jewish Labour activist.

In a Times Radio interview yesterday, former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls described the failure to deal with antisemitism within Labour as a “tragedy and a disaster” but said he did not think Corbyn should be expelled from the party.

Karie Murphy declared earlier this week, in anticipation of the release of the EHRC report, that she is “proud” of the party’s record on dealing with antisemitism complaints under Corbyn’s leadership.