A Scottish Labour candidate has told an election hustings that she would not ask for Jews’ votes in the upcoming election because they “don’t deserve it”.
Labour candidate for East Renfrewshire Carolann Davidson told the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council hustings on Wednesday that “the Labour Party from the leadership down has failed you.
“I won’t ask for your vote. We don’t deserve it.”
She added that she was “embarrassed by the way Labour is handling antisemitism” and had come close to leaving Labour. “It’s only been like this since Jeremy Corbyn was leader.”
She also said that it was “shocking’ Jim Sheridan “got off Scot free” despite claiming that he had lost “respect and empathy for the Jewish community and their historic suffering… due to what they and their Blairite plotters are doing to my party”.
At the same event, SNP candidate Kirsten Oswald said that Corbyn’s sitting on the fence on antisemitism was “disgraceful”, and suggested the SNP could use it’s leverage over Labour to address its antisemitism problems.
Tory candidate Paul Masterton said Mr Corbyn “is a threat to this community and I believe he must be stopped”. He also mentioned his party had suspended two candidates and that all parties needed to improve.
Ms Davidson also took the opportunity to support “dialogue not boycotts” and condemn people who chant “from the river to the sea” in reference to the removal of the Israeli state.
The hustings event was originally reported on by journalist Stephen Daisley, who live-tweeted the event. He noted his surprise that a Jewish audience "applauded a Labour candidate (twice) for her honesty".
‘I won’t ask for your vote. We don’t deserve it. The Labour Party from the leadership down has failed you... I am here tonight to reassure your community.’
— Stephen Daisley (@JournoStephen) November 27, 2019
— Labour candidate Carolann Davidson (East Renfrewshire)
East Renfrewshire is Scotland’s most Jewish seat, with 2,400 Jews living in the constituency at the last census.
Paul Edlin, the president of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, had previously told the JC that “by far” the biggest issue facing Jewish voters was Mr Corbyn and antisemitism in Labour.
Eat Renfrewshire used to be a safe seat for Labour but was taken by the SNP in 2015 and then by the Conservatives in 2017.
