Keir Starmer has promised action against union activists and campaigners who pushed for the cancellation of a school visit by an MP who is vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel.<\/p>\n
Pro-Palestine activists and National Education Union members said they opposed the visit by Damien Egan, the Labour MP for Bristol North East, because they viewed him as supportive of Israel\u2019s military operation in Gaza.<\/p>\n
The cancellation took place in September<\/a> but the issue was raised on Sunday by the communities secretary, Steve Reed, who said a Jewish colleague was banned from visiting a school amid concerns his presence would \u201cinflame\u201d teachers.<\/p>\n At prime minister\u2019s questions in the Commons on Wednesday, the Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp accused the campaigners of antisemitism and said Egan had been \u201cprevented from visiting a school in his constituency because he is Jewish\u201d.<\/p>\n Starmer replied: \u201cCan I start by thanking you for raising this case, because it is very serious, very concerning, and all members of parliament should be able to visit anywhere in their constituency, schools or other places without any fear of antisemitism.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do take this seriously. We are providing more funding for security and support we\u2019re putting in across the country, and we will be holding to account those who prevented this visit to this school.\u201d<\/p>\n The bulk of PMQs involved Starmer fending off accusations from Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, that his government was in chaos after another U-turn, this time over changes to how<\/a> a planned digital ID system will work.<\/p>\n Calling digital ID \u201ca rubbish policy\u201d, Badenoch began her questions by saying: \u201cCan I welcome the prime minister\u2019s latest U-turn? I feel like I say that every week.\u201d<\/p>\n Starmer replied: \u201cShe talks about U-turns and consistency \u2013 from the party that used to recognise the challenge of climate change, and now they run from it, who promised to cut immigration, but then lost control of it, who once took great pride in our diversity, [and] now they talk of<\/a> deporting our neighbours to achieve cultural coherence.\u201d<\/p>\n Badenoch went on to castigate Starmer for other recent policy switches, including climbdowns over a rise in inheritance tax for farmers<\/a> and business rate hikes for pubs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reed had told a Jewish Labour Movement conference on Sunday: \u201cI have a colleague who is Jewish, who has been banned from visiting a school and refused permission to visit a school in his own constituency, in case his presence inflames the teachers. That is an absolute outrage.\u201d<\/p>\n He did not name the colleague but sources close to Egan confirmed he was talking about the MP\u2019s planned visit in September.<\/p>\n