Ian Austin: Corbyn still failing over anti-Semitism

The Labour leader met with representatives from the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews on Tuesday night, but refused to agree to any of their demands.

Ian Austin, the Labour MP for Dudley North, has hit out at his party for not responding more 'positively' to their requests, which included speeding up disciplinary cases.

It comes after an unprecedented protest outside the Houses of Parliament last month, which followed criticism that Mr Corbyn had failed to take anti-Semitism seriously enough.

Labour has been dogged by a series of incidents, including criticism last month over Mr Corbyn's comments in support of an anti-Semitic mural in 2012.

Mr Austin was one of a number of Labour MPs to support the Parliament Square protest.

In a Commons debate last week he called for former London Mayor Ken Livingstone to be booted out of the party over his claim that Adolf Hitler had supported Zionism in the 1930s.

After meeting with Mr Corbyn for more than two hours, the Jewish organisations said in a statement: "We are disappointed that Mr Corbyn's proposals fell short of the minimum level of action which our letter suggested.

"Words in letters and newspaper articles will never be enough. We welcome the fact that Mr Corbyn's words have changed but it is action by which the Jewish community will judge him and the Labour Party."

Mr Austin said: "How could the Labour leadership watch an unprecedented protest by the Jewish community and last week’s debate and still fail to deal with their concerns?"

He added: "The Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews requests were hardly unreasonable. Why couldn’t Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party respond more positively?"

Mr Corbyn is said to have rejected action points including a fixed timetable to deal with anti-Semitism cases and the expedition of long-standing cases involving Mr Livingstone and suspended party activist Jackie Walker.

They also urged that no MP should share a platform with somebody expelled or suspended for anti-Semitism, and that Labour adopts in full the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.

The Jewish leaders also said the Labour leader has been slow to act on the recommendations of a 2016 report by Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti, which called for action to address what it said was the 'occasionally toxic atmosphere' in the party.

Mr Corbyn said it was a 'positive and constructive' meeting and shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne said it was 'full, thorough and frank'.

"I am absolutely committed to rooting out anti-Semitism from our party and our society," Mr Corbyn added.