Jeremy Corbyn will not be Labour candidate at next election, vows Keir Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has stated that former Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn is not going to stand for the get together within the subsequent normal election, as he pledged to take a “zero tolerance” strategy to antisemitism.

Talking at a press convention on Wednesday, the chief of the opposition reiterated his apology “to all those that have been damage” and “who suffered probably the most appalling abuse” and insisted that, below him, Labour had modified “completely, essentially, irrevocably”.

Starmer’s feedback mark his strongest break but with Corbyn, who served as chief between 2015 and 2020, and are available after the UK equalities watchdog stated it was “content material with the actions” taken by Labour to handle antisemitism.

The Equality and Human Rights Fee stated it had “concluded [its] monitoring” on the finish of January as a result of it was “glad that Labour had carried out the mandatory actions to enhance its . . . procedures to the authorized requirements required”.

Welcoming the ECHR’s choice as an “essential second”, Starmer stated it additionally represented “a second to apologise as soon as once more”.

“To all those that have been damage, to all those that have been let down, to all these pushed out of our get together, who now not felt it was their house, who suffered probably the most appalling abuse, right this moment, on behalf of your entire Labour get together, I say: sorry,” he stated.

Insisting that it could “by no means once more” be captured by “slim pursuits”, Starmer additionally confirmed that Corbyn wouldn’t characterize the get together on the subsequent election. “What I stated concerning the get together altering, I meant, and we’re not going again, and that’s the reason Jeremy Corbyn is not going to stand as a Labour candidate,” he stated.

At current, Corbyn sits as an unbiased MP for Islington North after he was suspended from Labour in October 2020.

Corbyn’s suspension got here after the ECHR stated in October 2020 that its probe into antisemitism within the get together had “recognized critical failings in management” and “an insufficient course of for dealing with antisemitism complaints”.

The watchdog, which started its investigation in Might 2019, referred to as on Labour to supply an “motion plan” and located that “antisemitism . . . might have been tackled extra successfully if the management had chosen to take action”.

Corbyn’s feedback after the report’s publication in 2020, whereby he urged that the extent of antisemitism inside the get together had been overstated, prompted Starmer to withdraw the whip from him.

Acknowledging that his job was not but “full”, Starmer on Wednesday stated that his “zero tolerance” stance on the matter was a part of a push to “convey this get together again to the British folks”.

Labour would “by no means once more lose sight of its objective or its morals. And it’ll by no means once more be delivered to its knees by racism or bigotry.

“In case you don’t like that, for those who don’t just like the modifications now we have made, I say the door is open and you may go away.”

In a statement, Corbyn described Starmer’s pledge to bar him from standing as “a flagrant assault on the democratic rights of Islington North Labour get together members” and a “divisive distraction” from successful the subsequent election.

“Any try to dam my candidacy is a denial of due course of, and must be opposed by anyone who believes within the worth of democracy,” he stated.