Starmer says universities will be expected to publish audit of of antisemitism on campus, and how it’s being tackled
Keir Starmer has said that universities will now be expected to publish information about the scale of antisemitism on their campuses, and what they are doing to tackle it.
He made the announcement in a speech at the antisemitism summit in No 10. He told the civic leaders in his audience.
We’re rolling out antisemitism training for staff and in our schools, colleges and universities. We’re investing £7m to tackle antisemitism while making sure Holocaust education is taught in all schools.
And today, we’re going further.
We already expect universities to set out clear disciplinary consequences for antisemitism and to enforce them. And so we will hold them to account on that.
But today I can announce that we will lift the bar higher when abuses take place. We’re calling on universities to demonstrate action. We will now expect them to publish the scale of the problem on their campuses, as well as the specific steps they have taken to clamp down on it. There will be zero tolerance for inaction.
Key events
FBU general secretary Steve Wright says Starmer ‘sitting duck’ and leadership challenge ‘inevitable’ after elections
Keir Starmer is now a “sitting duck” because a leadership challenge is “inevitable” after the elections this week, a union leader has said.
Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, made the comment in an interview with Simon Fletcher, a former aide to Ken Livingstone, Jeremy Corbyn and (briefly) Starmer, published on Fletcher’s Modern Left Substack blog.
Wright first publicly called for Starmer to go in February, and he told Murphy that he now thought a contest could not be avoided.
Wright, whose union is affiliated to Labour, said:
If [the election results are] as bad as all the polls suggest – I’m not a betting, man, but I’m sure they’re not going to be great, are they – I think Starmer should stand down.
I think he should have stood down a couple of months ago and given me, others, Labour activists, people that are proud of the Labour party, an opportunity to try and win round some people. It would have been hard, but I think without him there, we could have probably done something.
So I think he will go. I think there will be calls for him to go. We just need to have been in a position to try and shape that. It’s inevitable now, isn’t it? I think he’s a bit of a sitting duck.
In the interview Wright did not endorse an alternative candidate for Labour leader. He said he was more interested in establishing “a set of principles” the government should follow in the next three years before an election has to take place.
But he said that under Starmer the unions had been sidelined, and he said people wanted an end to austerity and real change. He explained:
For us in the fire service, with our wages and also with the lack of funding and investment in public services, it’s just been austerity mark II.
I’ve no criticism of why people are looking for alternatives. They’re either turning to Reform because they’re providing an alternative narrative – the wrong one, I think – or they’re turning to the Greens as some kind of saviour of working-class people. And I certainly don’t think the Green party or Zack Polanski are the saviours of that.
I think we need to take back ownership of the Labour party and what we really know it stands for, and make sure it starts delivering for working people.
And I’m quite angry that the party’s got in this position we find ourselves in, but I’m certainly not going to walk away from that. I’m going to try and change it from within.
Starmer orders review into whether Arts Council tough enough on dealing with organisations that platform antisemitism
In his speech Keir Starmer also said that, if arts organisations platform antisemitism, the Arts Council “must act using its powers to suspend, withdraw and clawback funding”.
And he announced a review into whether this is happening properly. He went on:
And today we’re mandating an independent audit of how allegations are handled. This will be a hard-edged review of where systems are failing and where they need to be strengthened.
We will not and cannot accept complacency, delays or weak enforcement.
And where complacency is found. It will be challenged and addressed swiftly.
Starmer says universities will be expected to publish audit of of antisemitism on campus, and how it’s being tackled
Keir Starmer has said that universities will now be expected to publish information about the scale of antisemitism on their campuses, and what they are doing to tackle it.
He made the announcement in a speech at the antisemitism summit in No 10. He told the civic leaders in his audience.
We’re rolling out antisemitism training for staff and in our schools, colleges and universities. We’re investing £7m to tackle antisemitism while making sure Holocaust education is taught in all schools.
And today, we’re going further.
We already expect universities to set out clear disciplinary consequences for antisemitism and to enforce them. And so we will hold them to account on that.
But today I can announce that we will lift the bar higher when abuses take place. We’re calling on universities to demonstrate action. We will now expect them to publish the scale of the problem on their campuses, as well as the specific steps they have taken to clamp down on it. There will be zero tolerance for inaction.
Polanski hits back after Labour attacks Greens for not tackling antisemitism in party properly
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, posted these on social media this morning. They seem to be a response at least in part to the antisemitism attack ad launched by Labour yesterday. (See 8.41am and 9.16am.)
When you see the relentless attacks from other parties on the Greens across the media remember this:
They hate our plan to end Rip Off Britain.
They don’t want a wealth tax.
They don’t want public ownership & lower bills.
They’re trying everything in their power to stop us.
It’s not going to work.
They have deep pockets.
We have people power and a plan to change our country.
Steve Reed warns Labour another leadership contest ‘ends in annihilation’ for party
Steve Reed, the housing secretary, has warned that Labour risks “annihilation” if it gets rid of Keir Starmer and holds another leadership contest.
He delivered this message as he did a media interview round this morning. As Pippa Crerar reports in this overnight story, what Reed was saying in public echoes what multiple cabinet ministers have been telling the Guardian in private about the dangers of a leadership contest.
Reed told Times Radio:
I speak to a lot of my fellow MPs, of course I do, all the time, but also council leaders, and they’re sick and tired of all this psychodrama … The whole notion that we would copy the Conservatives and go doomscrolling through leaders in a way that means the government is completely incapable of dealing with the things that matter to most of the British public is absolute nonsense, and I’m not going to engage in it, and most of our MPs would not engage in that either.
Jessica Elgot has more on that interview here.
And, in an interview on Sky News, Reed said that another leadership election would be disastrous for Labour. He said:
We can’t be like the Tories and doomscroll through leaders. It ends in annihilation. We’ve got to focus on the British public, not ourselves.
In his Sky News interview, Reed also said that he had dinner with Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM, on Saturday – but he claimed they did not discuss whether she might run for the leadership. “Sometimes even we politicians talk about other things,” he said. But he did say “in time” he would like to see her back in cabinet.
Next Scottish government faces ‘really difficult’ spending choices, economists say
The next Scottish government will need to make “really difficult” spending decisions soon after taking power, including tackling its large public sector pay bill, senior economists have said. Severin Carrell has the story.
Steve Reed accuses Zack Polanski of ignoring antisemtism problem in Green party
Steve Reed, the environment secretary, has been giving interviews this morning. As well as promoting the (small) funding announcement for councils dealing with antisemitism (see 8.41am), he has also been reviving the Labour attack on the Green party over their handling of antisemitism in their party (see 9.16am).
Reed, a former leader of Lambeth council who now represents Streatham and Croydon North (which covers parts of Lambeth), told GB News:
We need the Green party to do what the Labour Party did and kick out members of their party who are openly antisemitic. In my borough, where my constituency is, two Green Party candidates have been arrested for allegations of stirring up racial hatred.
Instead of condemning them, the Green party has put out a letter saying that the Labour party is spreading cynical misinformation.
These people were arrested for hate crimes targeting the Jewish community. One of them was back out on the doorsteps this weekend. We have photographic evidence of knocking on doors now.
Zack Polanski, come on, these people are spreading antisemitic hatred. You cannot put them up for election.
You cannot back them, and you cannot shut your eyes and pretend this problem doesn’t exist. We only tackle racism by calling it out and stopping it. And all of us have a responsibility to do that.
This morning’s Downing Street meeting is a government event, and non-partisan. But, conveniently perhaps, it coincides with the Labour party last night releasing a new campaign video, attacking the Greens on the basis of antisemitic comments made by some of their election candidates. In its format, it is similar to the one Labour produced highlighting the racist views of some Reform UK candidates.
Starmer calls antisemitism ‘crisis for all of us’, as No 10 holds summit and councils get extra funding to address problem
Good morning. Keir Starmer has declared antisemitism “a crisis for all of us”. This morning he is hosting an event in Downing Street intended to get leaders across all areas of public life to address the problem and, according to the briefing from No 10, he will say:
Last week’s terrorist attack in Golders Green was utterly appalling. But it was not an isolated incident. It is part of a pattern of rising antisemitism that has left our Jewish communities feeling frightened, angry, and asking whether this country, their home, is safe for them.
These disgusting attacks are being made against British Jews. But, make no mistake, this crisis – it is a crisis for all of us. It is a test of our values. Values that are not guaranteed, but are earned. Every single day, through our actions.
Here is Pippa Crerar and Aamna Mohdin’s overnight story about this.
And here is the overnight news release.
Last week, after the attack in Golders Green, the government announced an extra £25m “to boost police patrols, specialist officers, and protective security for Jewish communities – taking total funding to £58m, as well as £7m to tackle antisemitism in schools, colleges and universities”. This morning the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced a smaller funding boost for councils to coincide with the No 10 event. It says:
Jewish communities across England will receive a further £1m of government funding to tackle antisemitism and strengthen community cohesion in those places facing the greatest risk.
An immediate £500,000 will also be allocated to Barnet council, reflecting recent serious antisemitic incidents in the borough and the large number of Jewish residents there.
There has been an alarming rise in antisemitism both in this country and across much of the globe, including the horrific antisemitic terrorist attacks in Heaton Park and Bondi Beach last year, and an appalling spate of antisemitic attacks in North West London in recent weeks.
To tackle this, the additional funding being announced today will expand MHCLG’s Common Ground programme – which is already providing more than £4m to communities across the country.
The money can be used by councils on measures to counter antisemitism.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer hosts a meeting in Downing Street to discuss how to implement a whole-of-society response to rising antisemitism.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, is campaigning in Suffolk. In the afternoon she is in Coventry.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Noon: Paul Ovenden, Starmer’s former head of political strategy in No 10, speaks at a Policy Exchange event on how to reshape Britain.
Afternoon: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, visits a synagogue in central London.
5pm: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and the party’s Welsh leader, Dan Thomas, speak at a rally in south Wales with a “special guest”.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
Leave a Reply