Starmer responds to EHRC decision to conclude monitoring of Labour Party

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced today that it has concluded its monitoring of the Labour Party, which began following the equality regulator’s investigation into allegations of antisemitism within the party. The EHRC report – published in 2020 – found that there were “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination for which the Labour Party is responsible”, “serious failings in leadership and an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints”. It concluded that Labour was responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act relating to political interference in antisemitism complaints, failure to provide adequate training to those handling antisemitism complaints and harassment. The party was served with an unlawful act notice and given six weeks to produce an action plan in response to the report’s findings and recommendations. EHRC chief executive Marcial Boo said today the regulator had concluded its monitoring of the party on January 31st 2023 as it was “satisfied” that Labour had “implemented the necessary actions to improve its complaints, recruitment, training and other procedures to the legal standards required”.

The Jewish Labour Movement – which submitted more than 70 whistleblower testimonies to the EHRC in 2019 – welcomed the EHRC’s decision. It said in a statement Labour was in “moral turpitude and political denial” and had become an “unsafe space for Jews” under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The statement continued: “The Labour Party we see today is unrecognisable from what the party had become under Corbyn. Jews can once again call Labour their natural home and have no concerns about voting for it.” The Jewish Leadership Council chair Keith Black said Labour now had a “radically different approach” though he added: “There is still much work to do. Cultural change is always slow.”

Delivering a statement this morning on the EHRC’s decision, Keir Starmer said it was an “important moment in the history of the Labour Party”, though he cautioned that it was not a moment for celebration but a moment “for reflection”. The Labour leader said: “Be in no doubt: the job of restoring Labour is not complete, not even close. I don’t see today’s announcement as the end of the road. I see it as a signpost that we are heading in the right direction.” He repeated the apology he made following the publication of the EHRC’s report, saying: “To all those who were hurt, to all those who were let down, to all those driven out of our party, who no longer felt it was their home, who suffered the most appalling abuse. Today, on behalf of the entire Labour Party, I say sorry. What you have been through can never be undone. Apologies alone cannot make it right.”

Starmer declared that the Labour Party has changed “permanently, fundamentally, irrevocably”, adding: “The Labour Party is unrecognisable from 2019, and it will never go back.” He stressed: “If you don’t like the changes that we’ve made, I say: the door is open, and you can leave.” In a Q&A with journalists following his statement, the Labour leader was asked whether Corbyn will stand for Labour at the next election, to which Starmer replied: “Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for Labour at the next general election.” Corbyn had his party membership and the Labour whip suspended in 2020 after his response to the EHRC report, when he said the “scale of the problem” was “dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents”. He was subsequently reinstated as a Labour member but Starmer decided not to restore the Labour whip.

It had been increasingly expected that Corbyn would not be able to stand as a Labour candidate at the next election. A senior party source told the Guardian in November that the former leader “is never getting back in”, with the leadership understood to be reluctant to let him return even if he did apologise “unequivocally, unambiguously and without reservation” for his response to the EHRC report. Starmer’s confirmation today that Corbyn will not be allowed to stand for Labour puts Momentum and left-wing members who support the leader in a very difficult position. If Corbyn stands as an Independent, Labour would have grounds to expel activists and proscribe Momentum if they choose to campaign for him against the party.

Responding to Starmer’s comments about Corbyn, Momentum said in a statement: “This party does not belong to one man alone – it belongs to its members & trade unions. It should be for Labour members in Islington North to decide their candidate – that is their democratic right.” Asked this morning whether he would proscribe Momentum, Starmer said responsibility for proscriptions did not rest with him but reiterated: “The Labour Party has changed, and if there’s anyone in the Labour Party that doesn’t like that change, then my message to them is very clear this morning: the door is open, and you can leave.”