Labour at risk of bankruptcy from antisemitism legal cases
Labour is preparing for a new round of legal cases concerning antisemitism complaints, which could plunge the party into serious financial difficulties.
Lawyers from 3D Solicitors will next week set out the legal claims, from nine current and former Labour members, relating to potential data protection and privacy breaches.
Labour’s shadow cabinet has reportedly been told the new legal challenges could cost the party millions of pounds and cause serious financial stress.
The Observer reported today that the nine people in question filed complaints to Labour while Jeremy Corbyn was leader, after witnessing alleged antisemitism within the party.
The emails sent to the party, including their names and details, were then put into a draft report that was then leaked to the media in April.
A source involved in the latest cases told The Observer: “This is about privacy and data protection.
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“These were people who are or were normal party members and councillors who raised issues about antisemitism in good faith and confidentially with the party.
“They then found that they had been named in a report leaked deliberately, leading them to be abused on social media.”
It comes as Labour this week formally apologised to seven former members of staff and agreed to pay them £500,000 in damages.
The seven whistleblowers all appeared on a BBC programme last year detailing Labour’s antisemitism problem, with the party machinery then moving to accuse them of having a “political axe to grind” against Corbyn.
However, Corbyn was defiant and refused to apologise to the seven former party staff members, saying the settlement “risks giving credibility to misleading and inaccurate allegations about action taken to tackle antisemitism in the Labour party in recent years”.
“The party’s decision to apologise today and make substantial payments to former staff who sued the party in relation to last year’s Panorama programme is a political decision, not a legal one,” he said.