Labour must take anti-Semitism criticism seriously, says MP Pat McFadden

The Wolverhampton South East MP said although Labour had a history of fighting racism it should not hide behind its own 'sense of righteousness' and ignore the problems it faces today in the wake of a damning report by The Commons Home Affairs Committee.

The Anti-Semitism in the UK report criticised Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for a lack of 'consistent leadership' on the issue, which it said benefited people with 'vile attitudes' toward Jewish people.

Mr McFadden said: "I think this report should be taken very seriously.

"The atmosphere in the Labour Party – there's been a lot of nasty things said in social media over the past year in particular.

"I hope we don't make the mistake here of shooting the messenger.

"I hope we take the report seriously and don't fall into the trap that sometimes I see when these accusations are wielded, that we point to anti-racism records and say 'look at our record and our virtue here, that must mean we can't be anti-semetic'.

"Let me be absolutely clear about this. Pointing to your own sense of righteousness is no excuse for nastiness or cruelty to someone else."

The report criticised Twitter, which it claimed hosted 'vast swathes' of hate speech aimed at Jews.

It said the social network should do more to identify abusers but a spokesman for Twitter said it tackled hateful conduct 'head-on'.

The report also found Labour MP Luciana Berger received more than 2,500 abusive tweets in three days in 2014, while Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth has reported more than 25,000 incidents of abuse.

The report by five Conservative, one SNP and two Labour MPs made unanimous recommendations to Twitter, police and politicians on how to tackle anti-Semitism.

They said the failure of the Labour Party 'consistently and effectively to deal with anti-Semitic incidents in recent years risks lending force to allegations that elements of the Labour movement are institutionally anti-Semitic'.