The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) has passed a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn over his handling of the party’s antisemitism crisis.
The motion was passed “almost unanimously” during its annual general meeting (AGM), the group said via Twitter on Sunday afternoon.
JLM added that it had an “impassioned debate” over the motion, which included “strong speeches” from MPs Dame Margaret Hodge, Ruth Smeeth and Louise Ellman.
Ahead of the vote, Shami Chakrabarti, the Shadow Attorney General, urged JLM members not to “personalise” the party’s antisemitism row, saying Mr Corbyn “is one person and he won’t be leader forever”.
In response to the no confidence motion, a Labour spokesperson said the party and Mr Corbyn are "fully committed to the support, defence and celebration" of the Jewish community.
The spokesman added: “Antisemitism complaints received since April 2018 relate to about 0.1 per cent of our membership, but one antisemite in our party is one too many. We are determined to tackle antisemitism and root it out of our party.”
Resolution unprecedented in JLM history on three levels: no confidence in a Labour leader, “unfit to be PM” and “a labour govt led by him would not be in the interests of British Jews”
— Ross Kempsell (@rosskempsell) April 7, 2019
Prior to the AGM, Peter Mason, JLM’s national secretary, told Sky News that Jewish Labour members were weighing up a vote to officially disaffiliate from the party.
It came hours after the Sunday Times published a report alleging that Labour have failed to resolve more than half of 863 complaints of antisemitism against its members – with investigations yet to be launched in 28 per cent of cases.
Of that story, a Labour spokesperson said: “These figures are not accurate,” adding: “Lines have been selectively leaked from emails to misrepresent their overall contents.”