Labour staff made redundant as members quit and bills for antisemitism scandal rack up

Labour staff have been told there will be mass redundancies, apparently blamed on members quitting the party and the cost of antisemitism cases.

Plans are being discussed to shed up to 90 jobs – around a quarter of the payroll – as Keir Starmer seeks to repair Labour’s shattered finances.

A meeting was brought forward to Tuesday, after the plans leaked, leading to furious criticism from David Evans, Labour’s general secretary – who accused the leaker of feeding “the Tories’ agenda”.

“I am angry that this has happened because of the impact it will have on party staff,” Mr Evans said, in an email which was also leaked, to the Labour List website.

“Leaking information to the press simply lets the government off the hook and plays into the Tories’ agenda.”

Mr Evans was reported to have blamed Labour’s financial crisis on lost members and the fallout from the antisemitism scandal, under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Voluntary severance is believed to have been offered to all staff funded by the ruling National Executive Committee.

Labour’s most recent annual report showed it employs 367 staff were employed by the party at the end of 2019, many at its Southside headquarters in Victoria, London.

There have already been layoffs among community organisers – the grassroots campaigners favoured by Mr Corbyn, but whose value was disputed by party activists.

At an NEC meeting today, the body is expected to approve the expulsion of members of four far-left factions which will be proscribed.

The groups – Resist, Labour Against the Witchhunt, Labour In Exile and Socialist Appeal – are accused of downplaying antisemitism or extreme views.

The move was attacked by Richard Burgon, a close Corbyn ally, who accused Sir Keir of waging war on “a political tradition the Labour Leader started his political life in”.

“The Labour Leadership needs to be taking the fight to the Tories as they cause yet more suffering with their reckless response to this crisis, not chasing young socialists out of our Party,” Mr Burgon tweeted.

Andrew Scattergood, co-chair of the grassroots group Momentum, said, of the job losses: “Keir Starmer took over the richest party in Britain and has run it into the ground.

“By cynically rowing back on his ten pledges and by driving out grassroots members who don’t agree with him, he has brought our party to the brink of disaster.”

Labour’s finances have been hit hard by fighting three general elections in six years and as some leftwing members leave following the party’s shift to the right.

There have also been a string of costly legal cases, after the antisemitism scandal led to an official rebuke from the equalities watchdog – and Mr Corbyn’s suspension from the parliamentary party.

The party paid out a six-figure sum to settle a case brought by seven former employees and a veteran BBC journalist, admitting it defamed them in the aftermath of a Panorama investigation.