Labour vow to remove political bias from anti-Semitism discipline process in bid to stamp it out from the Party
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Labour has vowed to remove political bias from its discipline process tackling anti-Semitism.
The new system would also slash the time it takes for cases to be examined - which would be aimed at clearing the backlog of complaints which is currently around 100.
Recommendations from an internal working group would see the creation of a new three-person anti-Semitism panel to deal swiftly with complaints against party members.
The Party hopes the more efficient system will help it to root out the abuse which has dogged the party for the last two years.
The group produced a 13-point plan, which was leaked to HuffPost UK setting out plans which include using using smaller, specially-trained teams of investigators.
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It suggests anonymising the complaints to avoid perceptions of political bias learning from the party's methods of tackling sexual harassment complaints.
“There is a perception that cases are not dealt with in a consistent manner due to political forces influencing decisions with particular respondents – particularly at the NEC Disputes Panel stage of the process,” it states.
Christine Shawcroft was forced to resign from her role as chair of Labour's internal disputes panel after she apparently intervened to stand up for a council candidate suspended for alleged anti-Semitism.
Last month party chairman Ian Lavery confirmed there were more than 100 cases waiting to be investigated.
Although former London Mayor Ken Livingstone quit the party this month, it came after a two-year battle to expel him for remarks he had made linking Hitler, Zionism and Jews.
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According to the leaked document the new system would see more disciplinary cases dealt with solely through written testimony rather than oral hearings.
The party would also hire a new in-house lawyer to produce clearer evidence tests to standardise the system and make it more transparent.
Sanctions will range from verbal “reminders of conduct” or a “first written warning” through to more formal warnings, suspension and mandatory anti-semitism training.
It is understood that the draft proposals were positively received by the NEC last week. They will now be finalised before being presented for approval at the body's next meeting, expected before the summer.
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The proposals aim to deliver on a pledge by Jeremy Corbyn to make the issue the “number one priority” of his new general secretary Jennie Formby.
The leaked report says: “The perception is that the process is not swift enough from start to finish, that it is susceptible to political forces at each stage of the process and that there is a lack of consistency in how cases are adjudicated on,” it states.
“The proposed changes in this document seek to take the themes outlined in the Chakrabarti report and apply them as a first step in a root and branch review of how the process works – learning the lessons from recent changes to the way the Party handles other types of complaints – most notably Sexual Harassment.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council and some of the party's own MPs have urged Jeremy Corbyn to do more to tackle the problem.