London, November 18: UK Labours former chief Jeremy Corbyn, who was suspended last month over his controversial remarks over a report that accused the erstwhile party leadership of anti-semitic discrimination, would not be re-admitted in the party's parliamentary group. The decision was announced by current Labour head and Leader of Opposition Keir Starmer.
In other words, Corbyn, a parliamentarian from London, would now be seated in the UK House of Commons as an independent lawmaker. Starmer, in a statement issued to the press, said he would be reviewing Corbyn's case but for now the veteran leader's parliamentary membership would not be reinstated. Starmer Took Over From Corbyn After General Election Drubbing.
"Jeremy Corbyn’s actions in response to the EHRC report undermined and set back our work in restoring trust and confidence in the Labour party’s ability to tackle anti-semitism” Starmer was reported as saying.
“In those circumstances, I have taken the decision not to restore the whip to Jeremy Corbyn. I will keep this situation under review," he further added.
The report released by Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), on October 29, accused the erstwhile Labour leadership headed by Corbyn of taking insufficient measures to tackle the "anti-semitic discrimination" by the party.
Corbyn, while reacting to the EHRC report, had claimed that most of its content were exaggerated and relied on media reports and political rivals' statements. The anti-semitic portrayal of Labour had affected the party's reputation among the Jewish community, and also contributed to one of their most disappointing performances in the 2019 general elections.
"One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media," Corbyn had said.
Following his remarks, the Labour decided to suspend him from the party for an interim period. After the former Opposition Leader issued a "clarification", and agreed that the responsibility of tackling the anti-semitic charge was ultimately his duty, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour revoked his suspension on Tuesday.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 18, 2020 07:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).