Labour leadership candidates speak at first hustings – live news
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Version 1 of 10. Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Emily Thornberry, Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy debate in Liverpool Sir Keir said: “It’s quite possible to be critical of Israeli policies without being anti-Semitic. If you are anti-Semitic you shouldn’t be in the Labour party, its simple as that. “I would require a report every week to know what is happening.” Nandy said: “I am ashamed of where our party ended up. We gave the green light to anti-Semites. Never want to see again the response of top table of ‘we know better than you’ on the definition of anti-Semitism. Never again do I want to be door knocking with members of the party and be called racist. That starts with these pledges.” Thornberry gets a huge cheer when she said: “Anti-Semitism is a problem for society as a whole and for the Labour party. “We hold ourselves to a higher standard. Two years ago I made this point, you can, you must be critical of far right government of Netanyahu and what they are doing to Palestine. “But that is not the fault of the Jews and what’s where racism begins.” Phillips said: “We need a leader who has spoken out against antisemitism and other forms of harassment. “ I dont remember some of the people in this room who were there pushing for these fights. Jewish people were scared of Labour winning the election, that is deeply serious.” On addressing anti-Semitism within Labour, Long-Bailey said: “We cannot allow that level of mistrust to happen again. We were not dealing with the issue effectively ands responding to complaints. I have signed up to the board of deputy pledges, I agree with many of the principles.” She added that education is important to address conspiracy theories and smears. That was an inevitable question on the hostility of the media to the Labour Party. The answers were telling. Some candidates - especially Rebecca Long Bailey and Jess Phillips - chose to focus on the challenges they have personally faced in the media. The most convincing analysis came from Lisa Nandy - she argued that in seeking permission from voters to change the status quo, Labour are always going to be held to a tougher standard by the press, and it’s something the party needs to confront head-on. On the Red Wall, Nandy said: “Our task is bigger, rebuilding the Red Bridge from Lewisham to Leigh. “We don’t know better than other parts of the country. We need to shift the centre of gravity in the UK. Moving Labour HQ out of central London would be a major symbol of change.” Thornberry said: “I’ve visited 137 constituencies around the country. Whether dealing with deindustrialisation or saving our high streets, thats what I have heard. Also a credible opposition, so they believe what we can deliver.” Phillips said” “People didn’t trust us to deliver for our families or deliver what we said we were going to do. We wern’t very optimistic, just talking about what was bad. “We need to understand the basics of what people talk about on their doorstep. No-one talks about federalism.” Sir Keir said: “We have to win back in the Midlands and North and identify every reason that we lost. We have to celebrate what we have in our towns, the businesses and community spirit. “But we cannot just get back to where we were. We need to win in Scotland, Wales, South East and South West.” How do you plan on rebuilding the Red Wall? Long-Bailey said: “We didn’t get our messaging right. People thought we were offering handouts instead of empowerment. We have to talk about aspiration. “Sweeping away things like the House of Lords and replacing it with an elected senate that represents our regions.” The candidates are now speaking about getting tougher on social media and fake news and how the Conservatives ran a “slicker” and “insidious” election campaign. And how trying to turn sections of the press will be insufficient. On beating Johnson, Sir Keir said: “We’ve got to unite our party or we wont win. I think I have the experience, skillset and determination. I have led a large organisation. We need to win the next general election.” |