The Equality and Human Rights Commission report into antisemitism in the Labour Party is here. I have been acting for Campaign Against @antisemitism with Derek Spitz of One Essex Court for over 2 years, first to convince EHRC to intervene and then to make detailed submissions /1

This is based on direct quotes from the report - it is not analytical - that’s coming later. In fact, the report speaks for itself, as you are about to see. It is quite an extraordinary document, and a dark moment in the history of both the Labour Party and of British Jews.

“serious failings in leadership and in process for handling antisemitism complaints across Labour Party… multiple failures in systems it uses to resolve them. We have concluded there were unlawful acts fo harassment and discrimination for which the Labour Party is responsible”.

“Whilst there have been some recent improvements… our analysis points to a culture in the Party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst could be seen to accept it.”

“It is hard not to conclude that antisemitism within the Labour Party could have been tackled more effectively if the leadership had chosen to do so.”

Since the investigation has found that the Labour Party committed unlawful act they have therefore served an unlawful act notice (I think their first ever). The Labour Party is now legally obliged to draft an action plan by 10 December, to be agreed with the EHRC.

If the Labour Party fails to live up to that the EHRC can take enforcement action.

I have read the full report will take part in a press conference with the Campaign Against Antisemitism which will be broadcast online from 10:30 - follow @antisemitism

Here is the full @EHRC report into antisemitism in the Labour Party https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/investigation-antisemitism-labour-party?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialSignIn

For me, one of the key findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report is that calling antisemitism complaints "fake", a "smear" or a "witch hunt" itself was part of unlawful harassment.

As I have been saying for a long time, as have many others, the antisemitism denial narrative became a key component of antisemitism in Labour becuase it contributed to the conspiracy theory that Jews were out to get the left... https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1/status/1041226812020457473?s=20

... This was the subject of a detailed submission I made on behalf of @antisemitism to @EHRC and I am relieved that they appear to have taken that on board in the report - it creates a problem for Labour though because there were many key figures who referred to "smears" etc

A few more quotes from the report which I found striking...

“We found that the complaints process was not properly resourced and those responsible for it were not trained to the necessary standard.”

“We found evidence of a significant number of complaints relating to antisemitism that were not investigated at all… the. Guidance on appropriate sanctions was unclear and inconsistent”.

“We found evidence of political interference in the handling of antisemitism complaints throughout the period.. concluded this practice of political interference was unlawful. The evidence shows that staff from [Leader’s] Office were able to influence decisions on complaints.”

“We also found that the Labour Party breached the Equality Act 2010 by acts of indirect discrimination relating to political interference and a lack of adequate training.”

“Within a sample of 70 complaint files, we found 23 instances of political interference by [Leadership of Opposition] staff and others… we found this… was not part of the Labour Party’s formal complaints process, so it was not a legitimate approach to determining complaints.”

“… this was indirectly discriminatory and unlawful”.

There was a “failure to provide adequate training to individuals responsible for handling antisemitism complaints… We find that this failure indirectly discriminated against Jewish Labour Party members”.

“At times, we were seriously concerned about the Party’s commitment to working with us and dedicating enough resources to the matter.”

Important legal finding: “Suggesting that complaints of antisemitism are fake or smears” is antisemitism and in some instances amounted to unlawful harassment.

The EHRC identified 18 more borderline harassment cases in the sample of 70 cases.. not enough evidence to determine whether the Labour Party was legally responsible.”

EHRC found examples of Holocaust denial, description of a “witch hunt” in the Labour Party, Rothschilds and Jewish power conspiracies, blaming Jewish people for the “antisemitism crisis” in Labour… all examples of antisemitism.

Labour has made improvements to its complaints and disciplinary procedures since 2016. However the system has been “badly damaged” by political interference” and “compounded by serious failings in how the procedures have operated in practice”.

There was evidence that LOTO interfered in other cases but this was not “as extensive or systemic” as the political interference by LOTO that “we saw in antisemitism complaints”.

The EHRC finds a litany of failings in the complaints process: “inconsistent, poor, lacking in transparency… long delays… and communication with complainants”

At least June 2017 to mid-2018 the Labour Party “operated a policy of not investigating complaints about Party Members’ social media activity if they liked our shared content without commenting on it”.

“As a result of its policy the Labour Party failed to investigate antisemitism complaints based on likes, retweets and shares on social media”.

“The Labour Party has failed to develop or implement adequate training in relation to antisemitism complaints, despite the matter being raised repeatedly internally since 2016”.

“This failure helps to explain the poor decision-making that the Labour Party accepts has been present in antisemitism complaints… [this] practice or policy… amounted to unlawful indirect discrimination”.

Chapter 10 is entitled “A failure of leadership”. It begins “we have identified serious failings in leadership during the period the investigation looked at”