UK equality watchdog opens probe into Labour party over anti-Semitism allegations

The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission has opened an investigation into allegations of anti-Semitism against the country’s Labour party, the Guardian reports.

The regulator will be probing whether the Labour party led by Jeremy Corbyn has unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimized individuals because they are Jewish, according to the Guardian.

The probe follows legal complaints made against Labour by the local Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) and the Jewish Labour Movement, which both have argued that the party has violated the equalities law.

This is a rare move by the EHRC, which last took such an action against a party in 2010 when it probed the far-right British National party (BNP) for banning blacks and other minorities from becoming members.

A Labour spokeswoman tells the Guardian that it will cooperate with the investigation even though she rejected its premise.

“[The Labour party] is fully committed to the support, defense and celebration of the Jewish community and is implacably opposed to antisemitism in any form,” she says.

CAA head Gideon Falter tells the Guardian that “over the course of his leadership we have seen enough to convince us that Jeremy Corbyn himself is an anti-Semite and unfit for any public office, and though few have acted, most Labour MPs seem to agree with us.”