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Labour spends millions on legal action over antisemitism

The party is also struggling with a significant drop in membership numbers and fees

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BLACKPOOL, ENGLAND - JULY 15: Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer during a walkabout on the Comedy Carpet on Blackpool Promenade on July 15, 2021 in Blackpool, England. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)

The Labour Party is reportedly experiencing serious financial difficulty having spent millions of pounds defending itself over lawsuits related to antisemitism.

According to The Times, the party is believed to have forked out £2 million on antisemitism-related legal cases, as well as an extra £1 million to deal with a backlog of complaints. 

Alongside legal costs, the party is struggling with a significant drop in membership numbers and fees.

Last week Labour’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee, were told membership figures have dropped from 550,000 in April last year to 430,000.  

However, the worst is possibly still to come for the party as it grapples with the financial ramifications of the Corbyn era. 

Legal action over the ‘leaked Labour report’, a document containing thousands of private messages from Labour staffers critical of Mr Corbyn, could set the party back millions. 

Labour could be fined a maximum £15 million by the Information Commissioner’s Office for not protecting the data of individuals named in the leaked report. 

One senior Labour source told The Times: “There is an awful combination of data protection breaches and libel claims. It’s an absolute perfect storm of civil law-breaking. It is inevitable that in order to pay for the legal tale of the last five years, we’ve got to cut costs.”

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