Labour anti-Semitism: Jewish leaders blast meeting with Jeremy Corbyn as a 'disappointing missed opportunity'

The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have said their meeting with Jeremy Corbyn was "a disappointing missed opportunity" to deal with the problems of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

Writing in the Standard on Tuesday, the Labour leader said he was "sorry for the hurt and distress caused" by anti-Semitic supporters before meeting with the groups.

But in a joint statement, the Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies of British Jews said: "Our meeting with Jeremy Corbyn today was a disappointing missed opportunity regarding the problem of antisemitism in the Labour Party.

"We welcomed Mr Corbyn's personal involvement in the discussion and his new comments recognising and apologising for antisemitism in the Labour Party but he failed to agree to any of the concrete actions we asked for in our letter to him of March 28.

"Last month the Jewish community held an unprecedented demonstration outside Parliament to express our hurt and anger about the level of antisemitism in the Labour Party, and Jeremy Corbyn's failure to take strong action against it.

"Following that demonstration we wrote to Mr Corbyn to set out six areas of concrete action he and the party could take to address the antisemitism that has grown under his leadership. These represented the minimum level of action the community expected after more than two years of inactivity.

"Today we met Mr Corbyn to convey in no uncertain terms the Jewish community's feelings to him in person and to discuss his response to our proposals. It was a difficult yet important meeting.

"We are disappointed that Mr Corbyn's proposals fell short of the minimum level of action which our letter suggested.

"In particular, they did not agree in the meeting with our proposals that there should be a fixed timetable to deal with antisemitism cases; that they should expedite the long-standing cases involving Ken Livingstone and Jackie Walker; that no MP should share a platform with somebody expelled or suspended for antisemitism; that they adopt the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism with all its examples and clauses; that there should be transparent oversight of their disciplinary process.

"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.

"Our sole objective from this meeting was to build trust with Mr Corbyn, but this will not be possible until and unless he and the party turn their many strong words against antisemitism into equally strong actions in order to bring about a deep cultural change in his supporters' attitude to Jews.

"Thousands of British Jews did not demonstrate outside Parliament just for a few lawyers and another newspaper article; they demanded action and so do we.

"We will hold the Labour Party to account for any future failures and continue to represent the interests of British Jews with clarity and resolve.

"We also commit to do our utmost to work with all those within Labour who want to help make it a safe and equal space for all of its members."

Mr Corbyn also released a statement after the meeting, one which struck a considerably more conciliatory note: "I am grateful to the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust for a positive and constructive meeting about tackling antisemitism.

"I am absolutely committed to rooting out antisemitism from our party and our society.

"When members of Jewish communities express genuine anxieties, we must recognise them as we would those of any other community. Their concerns are not 'smears'. Jews belong in the Labour Party and we are utterly committed to making it a safe and welcoming place for them.

"I have charged our new General Secretary Jennie Formby with improving our disciplinary procedures as her top priority to ensure all complaints are dealt with swiftly and fairly. We are grateful for the input from Jewish community groups, who we will continue to listen to carefully.

"We will lay out the further steps we are taking in the coming weeks. We will continue to engage and work with Jewish community organisations to deal with this issue. Our party will not fail our Jewish brothers and sisters."

Additional reporting by the Press Association