Labour propose new rules to ban anti-Semitic members

New rules are being proposed to make it easier to ban Labour party members who express anti-Semitic views.

Local Labour parties will vote on the change, submitted by Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North and Anna Turley, MP for Redcar. 

The move would make it easier to expel anti-Semitic members and comes after Jeremy Corbyn was accused of being slow to tackle prejudice against Jews.

The Labour party has seen a rise anti-Semitic controversies which often begin as opposition to the policies of the state of Israel. Reuters

Jeremy Newmark from the Jewish Labour Movement and a local Labour party chair told the BBC there was a disparity between the rhetoric and actions of the party's leadership.

"Everybody's talking about zero tolerance of anti-Semitism but it's become apparent because of a spate of incidents over the last couple of months that the rules and processes of the party don't provide adequate provision to deal with it," he said.

Streeting, who was a former president of the National Union of Students (NUS) said: "We've now got a problem where too many of our Jewish members and people out there in the country think the Labour party is apathetic to antisemitism and it isn't a place for Jewish members.

"I think we've got to make sure that this party, with its historic commitment to tackling all forms of prejudice, including antisemitism, is still a place for Jewish people."

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The move comes after a number of incidents where Labour party members were accused of anti-Semitism. Vicki Kirby, a former Labour parliamentary candidate, was readmitted as a member after she was initially suspended for posting a number of derogatory comments on social media about Jewish people. She was reinstated and became a local party vice-chair before being suspended again.

Most recently a Labour councillor was suspended from the party after her Twitter feed claimed Hitler was the "greatest man in history".

A Labour party spokeswoman said: "We welcome the contributions of Labour's affiliates and members in this important debate. Rule changes can be submitted to Labour's annual conference where they are democratically agreed by delegates."

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