Monday, 25 Nov 2024

Keir Starmer refuses to give Jeremy Corbyn whip as he's readmitted to Labour

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed he will not be restoring the whip to Jeremy Corbyn.

He claimed his predecessor ‘undermined’ work in restoring trust and confidence in the party’s ability to tackle anti-Semitism.

This means although Mr Corbyn was reinstated as a party member yesterday, he still cannot sit as a Labour MP.

Mr Starmer said in a statement: ‘Since I was elected Labour leader, I have made it my mission to root out anti-Semitism from the Labour Party.

‘I know that I will judged on my actions, not my words.

‘The disciplinary process does not have the confidence of the Jewish community. That became clear once again yesterday.

‘It is the task of my leadership to fix what I have inherited. That is what I am resolute in doing and I have asked for an independent process to be established as soon as possible.

‘I’m the leader of the Labour Party, but I’m also the leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

‘Jeremy Corbyn’s actions in response to the EHRC report undermined and set back our work in restoring trust and confidence in the Labour Party’s ability to tackle anti-Semitism.

‘In those circumstances, I have taken the decision not to restore the whip to Jeremy Corbyn. I will keep this situation under review.’

Despite the move by the National Executive Committee to reinstate Mr Corbyn, the former party leader will continue to sit as an independent MP and will not be part of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Mr Corbyn had the whip withdrawn and was suspended from the party three weeks ago over his response to a damning Equality and Human Rights Commission report which found Labour had broken the law in its handling of anti-Semitism complaints.

In response, Mr Corbyn claimed that while ‘one anti-Semite is one too many… the scale of the problem was dramatically overstated for political reasons’.

He later sought to clarify the remarks, but his reinstatement has been met with outrage.

Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, said the lifting of Mr Corbyn’s suspension showed ‘the Jewish community has been conned’ and suggested his suspension was ‘nothing more than a media stunt to blunt the blow of the report last month’.

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