Jeremy Corbyn has responded to criticism of his handling of antisemitism in Labour by insisting that he takes a tough line on the issue.

"If anyone reports any form of antisemitism within our party, it is investigated immediately and cracked down upon,” he said.

"Antisemitism is vile and wrong as is any form of racism.

"That message is unequivocal - we are a multifaith, multicultural Britain - let's respect each other and move on from there."

Mr Corbyn made the remarks on Thursday, according to the BBC, after being accused by Jewish leaders of failing to take Jew-hatred in the party seriously.

Earlier in the day Board of Deputies president Jonathan Arkush had said that Labour politicians, Jewish and non-Jewish, were “crying out” for Mr Corbyn to take action against a " stream of clear-cut cases of antisemitism.

"It would be incomprehensible for Mr Corbyn to remain inert and refuse to take this form of racism in his party seriously", he said.

Mr Arkush’s comments were a response to Mr Corbyn’s defence of his brother, Piers, who earlier in the week criticised a Jewish Labour MP for challenging the party leadership’s efforts to counter to antisemitism.

Piers Corbyn had tweeted that it was “absurd” for Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman to say more needed to be done.
He added: "All ‪#‎Corbyns‬ are committed ‪#‎AntiNazi‬. ‪#‎Zionists‬ cant cope with anyone supporting rights for ‪#‎Palestine‬".
Asked about the tweet, Jeremy Corbyn told The Sun, that his brother was “not wrong”.

He added: "My brother has his point of view, I have mine and we actually fundamentally agree - we are a family that were brought up fighting racism from the day we were born."

Mr Akrush expressed concern at Mr Corbyn’s response.

He said: "Jeremy Corbyn's defence of his brother's belittling of the problem of antisemitism is deeply disturbing.
"We cannot imagine that any other minority's concerns would be dismissed off-hand in this way."