Members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) have voiced their concerns that a bad outcome from the equalities watchdog about the party’s handling of the anti-Semitism issue could open the party up to lawsuits from Jewish members and former members. The NEC members are concerned that the financial situation in the Labour Party could become unmanageable if the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) finds the party failed to protect Jewish members.

The watchdog are due to publish a report next year after they opened a formal investigation last year.

According to The Independent, one NEC member said of the inquiry: “If it’s really bad then it opens up all sorts of possibilities and it has been raised that the whole thing could basically bankrupt the party.

“People are really worried. The party has been asked to let us know what indemnity it has because there are concerns that NEC members are going to ultimately be responsible for this.

“If we were a charity, the Charity Commission would have been all over us months ago. The EHRC is effectively playing the same role as the Charity Commission and we are effectively the trustees. That means we are legally responsible.”

A second NEC member reportedly said: “There have been concerns raised about who is legally responsible for the Labour Party. Some of us are worried about this.

“The grown-ups on the NEC who do not have the backing of the trade unions are all concerned. We don’t know what’s happening.

“I don’t think it’s occurred to most of the NEC that there could be financial implications, but it has to some of us. We’ve raised the question but haven’t had an answer.”

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In a speech earlier this year, Baroness Hayter, Labour’s deputy leader in the House of Lords and a former NEC member and chair of the Labour Party, said: “There’s been a serious undermining of the NEC by denying its members, who have legal responsibility for the party, membership figures, financial structures, financial accounts, the submission in their names to the EHRC.”

This comes amid the news that Labour made a loss of £655,000 last year.

According to the party’s annual report, Labour lost more than half a million pounds last year as members left the party in their droves and staffing costs soared.

Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to make a decisive stance on Brexit and the party’s continuing struggle to deal with complaints about anti-Semitism have both contributed to the falling head-count.

According to The Jewish Chronicle, two-thirds of Labour members do not believe the party has a “serious” anti-Semitism problem, while a majority either blame Jeremy Corbyn’s political opponents or the mainstream media for accusations it has faced.

Ian Austin, who quit the Labour Party in February, told the Sunday Times: “The party of today is not the one I grew up in. It has been consumed by a culture of extremism and intolerance.

“Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Labour has become a safe haven for antisemites. Those who have taken a stand against this corrosive evil within have been intimidated and even driven from the party but we will not be silenced.”

Express.co.uk has contacted the Labour Party for comment.

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