Labour’s failure to ‘crush anti-semitism’ may cost £5m

Legal claims are ‘evidence of the damage caused by Corbyn and the hard-left’s terrible time in charge’

THE Labour Party risks spending up to £5 million if it loses claims arising out of anti-semitism allegations, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Sir Keir Starmer, the party leader, is facing scrutiny over the spending at a time when it has recorded a £4.8million deficit. Questions have also been raised about his commitment “to rip out antisemitism out by its roots” after taking over as Jeremy Corbyn’s successor in April 2020.

Details of the amounts that Labour has spent will be revealed at a hearing at the High Court in London on Tuesday.

The party is being sued by nine whistleblowers who made complaints of anti-semitism to Labour. Their personal details were leaked in a report intended as a submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) investigation into anti-semitism in the Labour Party.

In October 2020 it concluded that it had been responsible for “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination” against Jews.

However, the potential cost of the legal battle has prompted concern from charities, peers, and MPS about Labour’s spending as it pitches itself to be the next government, as well as warnings that the spectre of anti-semitism is continuing to linger in mainstream politics.

It is also understood that MPS are due to raise questions of Sir Keir and his party’s spending on legal cases ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Baron Austin of Dudley, a former Labour party member who quit citing anti-semitism under Mr Corbyn’s leadership and now sits as a life peer in the House of Lords, last night described the figures as “further evidence of the dreadful damage caused by Corbyn and the hard-left’s terrible time in charge”.

“It is shocking to see good money being thrown after bad on these cases, and it is appalling that when Keir Starmer keeps saying he has torn antisemitism out by its roots, the party is refusing to accept claims made by the brave whistleblowers who stood up when so many politicians who are supposed to provide leadership failed to,” he said.

Baron Austin, whose Jewish father came to the UK as a refugee fleeing the Nazis, added: “Perhaps, if more politicians had shown more bravery and principle before, the staff would never have had to take these risks and this whole scandal, all the damage it caused and all the costs could have been avoided.”

It comes as the Information Commissioner’s Office’s inquiry into the potential data breach from the leaked report, after Labour self-reported to the watchdog, remains ongoing.

The Labour Party did not respond to request for comment.