Jewish communal leaders have praised Sir Keir Starmer saying he has "already achieved in four days more than his predecessor in four years in addressing antisemitism within the Labour Party" after a video link meeting on Tuesday.

In discussions overshadowed by the on-going cornovavirus, the delegation said they looked forward to having a "normal relationship" with the party whereby discussions can move away from being about one issue.

As the JC revealed earlier, a delegation including Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl, Jewish Leadership Council Chair Jonathan Goldstein, Community Security Trust Chair Gerald Ronson and the Jewish Labour Movement's Peter Mason and Mike Katz - held talks with Sir Keir and his deputy Angela Rayner for the first time since he was made leader at the weekend.

In a joint statement the communal leaders said: "While we would have fully understood the need to focus entirely on Coronavirus at this time, Keir Starmer has already achieved in four days more than his predecessor in four years in addressing antisemitism within the Labour Party.

“As we discussed with Keir and Angela, we want to have a normal relationship with Labour whereby we can discuss the full range of issues affecting our community, from religious freedom to Israel, from Jewish schools to poverty, from refugees to the environment - and not just antisemitism.

"This has certainly been a good start. If the new Labour leadership continues in this way, we can work together to make the changes that will make Labour a proudly anti-racist party once again."

Sir Keir - who repeated his apology over Jeremy Corbyn's failure on antisemitism - confirmed his intention, as he outlined earlier in his article for the JC, to setting up an independent complaints process for dealing with allegations of antisemtism against party members.

The Labour leader said: "Today, I repeated once again the apology I made as soon as I was elected leader. 

"Over the last few years, we have failed the Jewish community on antisemitism. Labour is a proudly anti-racist party and, going forward, it will not be enough to 'pass the test' on antisemitism. We need to set new standards for best practice. 

"At today's meeting, I committed to begin work on setting up an independent complaints process, cooperating fully with the EHRC’s inquiry and asking for a report on all outstanding cases to be on my desk at the week.

"I also discussed with Jewish Labour Movement my ambition to roll out training of all Labour Party staff in as soon as practically possible."

The meeting lasted around 50 minutes and it was agreed to hold a follow up in June.

All present all made a point of expressing concern over the health of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and hoped his condition would improve after he went into intensive care on Monday evening.

Sir Keir also reiterated his intention to work with his deputy Ms Rayner, who is also now Labour’s chair,.