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Labour loses members as antisemitism crisis continues - but almost 80 percent of membership think it's all 'exaggerated'

Only 19 percent deemed antisemitism within the party to be a genuine problem in need of tackling

April 2, 2018 12:31
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3 min read

The Labour party lost over 3,000 members last week as it continued to face questions about antisemitism within its ranks – but new polling suggests almost 80 percent of Labour members believe such accusations of antisemitism are exaggerated.

According to a poll of Labour members by YouGov for The Times, only 19 percent deemed antisemitism within the party to be a genuine problem in need of tackling. 47 percent agreed that antisemitism was a problem “but its extent is being deliberately exaggerated to damage Labour and Jeremy Corbyn or to stifle criticism of Israel”, while 30 percent concurred that such accusations were being used to undermine Mr Corbyn, the Labour leader, and stop criticism of Israel, but went further by saying that antisemitism within the party was “not a serious problem.” 

The Times also said it understood Labour had lost over 17,000 members since the start of the year, with over 3,000 last week either actively resigning or failing to renew their direct debits. 

Last week, after a protest outside Parliament by around 1500 members of the UK’s Jewish community and sympathetic allies, including up to 40 Labour MPs, Mr Corbyn once again pledged to deal with antisemitism within the Labour party. A day later, Christine Shawcroft, a political ally of Mr Corbyn who was made chair of the Labour’s disputes panel in January, stepped down from that role after it was revealed that she had argued for the reinstatement of an alleged Holocaust denier.