Politics

Luciana Berger says anti-Semitism complaints that prompted her to quit Labour remain unresolved



Luciana Berger has said complaints of anti-Semitism within Labour’s ranks which prompted her to quit the party remain unresolved.

The Lib Dem candidate said she was still copied into correspondence from people raising the issue within Labour, which she left in February.

Ms Berger, a former shadow minister, cited anti-Jewish racism and the party’s Brexit stance among her reasons for cutting ties with the group.

Despite having left almost ten months ago, she said some of the problems flagged while she was a member are still going through the system, with one such case apparently having gone on for more than a year.

Luciana Berger is now running for the Lib Dems (AFP via Getty Images)

“I’m still copied into complaints that are being followed up,” Ms Berger told the Standard.

“They will see that I’m copied into these complaints as well. One case is over a year.”

The 38-year-old mother-of-two also said she still receives abuse from Labour supporters despite having quit.

“It still continues even though I’ve left the Labour Party – they told me to leave on so many occasions and then I did and they’re still having a go,” Ms Berger, who was flanked by security when she attended the Labour Party conference in 2018 due to threats she had received, said.

Speaking at an event at Brampton College, just outside of the Finchley and Golders Green constituency where she is standing in north London, she blasted the party’s reaction to anti-Semitism complaints.

Questioning how the issue had not been quashed, she said: “If you can’t deal with one kind of racism in your ranks, what does that mean for another kind of racism at a later moment?”

She also said she had hoped the party could be held to a high standard on dealing with the issue, as when she joined a key factor was its anti-racist stance – though she said the party has “betrayed” the values it was founded upon.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been frequently criticised for anti-Semitism within the party.

Despite the consistent complaints he has insisted it has “no place” within its ranks.

In a recent interview on This Morning, he said: “Our party and me do not accept anti-Semitism in any form… Obviously I’m very sorry for everything that’s happened.

“But I want to make this very clear: I am dealing with it, I have dealt with it, other parties are also affected by anti-Semitism.”

In a statement, the Labour Party told the Standard: “Anti-Semitism is an evil and we are committed to rooting it out of our Party and society. We are fully cooperating with the EHRC.

“The Labour Party is not institutionally anti-Semitic and complaints relate to a small minority of our members.”



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