Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At Five 20240713 : vimarsan

BBCNEWS BBC News At Five July 13, 2024

From the election campiagn trail, hours before the final deadline to register to vote. The other main stories on bbc news at 5pm. A Bleak Outlook on Climate Change, the United Nations says the world has to act much faster, to avoid Dangerous Levels of Global Warming. Sir andy murray speaks about his return to tennis after hip surgery, and why hes living life to the full. And whos a lucky couple . Steve and lenka thompson from sussex are £105 millions richer, after winning the euromillions jackpot. Its five oclock. Our main story is labours response to the plain spoken criticism of the chief rabbi, who questioned Jeremy Corbyns suitability for the post of Prime Minister, saying that a poison of antisemitism had taken root in the labour party. Ephraim mirvis, britains most seniorjewish leader, said labours claims to have dealt with claims of anti semitism were a fiction. Mr corbyn said today there could be no place for any kind of racism in his party. The chief rabbis decision to speak out was supported by the archbishop of canterbury, and also by the Muslim Council of britain, which then went on to accuse the conservative party of denial, dismissal and deceit, on the issue of islamophobia. Ourfirst report this evening is by our Political Correspondentjess parker. Not the backdrop labour wanted, outside the launch of its race and faith manifesto. It comes as this man, the chief rabbi ephraim mirvis, questioned Jeremy Corbyns fitness to be Prime Minister. In the times, the chief rabbi writes that. Today, labour described its race and faith manifesto as ambitious, tra nsformative. It wants to hold an independent review of far right extremism, establish better protections for places of worship. More broadly, tackle pay discrimination based on race and teach children about colonialism and the role of the british empire. But as Jeremy Corbyn arrived at the event, it was clear todays launch had become overshadowed. There is no place whatsoever for anti semitism in any shape or form or in any place whatsoever in modern britain. And under a Labour Government, it will not be tolerated in any form whatsoever. And asked directly about the chief rabbis comments. I invite the chief rabbi, i invite the archbishop of canterbury, i invite all the other faith leaders to come, talk to us about what their concerns are, but be absolutely clear of this assurance from me. No community will be at risk because of their identity, their faith, their ethnicity or their language. And views may vary on what a Labour Government could mean for the Jewish Community. What i think is critical is that people will feel increasingly uncomfortable and will look for ways of either moving or having a place somewhere else or whatever they can possibly do, to mitigate what feels oppressive, uncomfortable, dangerous. There is a lot of pain in the Jewish Community. I think there are concerns, yes, but i think the concerns are legitimate up to a point, but beyond that i think they are misplaced. I think they are misplaced in so far as the chief rabbi has gone too far. The overall narrative here may feel rather familiar. Labour insists it is taking robust action, critics say that is not the case. Whats different . The manner and tone of this intervention from the chief rabbi in the middle of a general Election Campaign. Boris johnson has faced criticism for his handling of islamophobia allegations. Today, the Muslim Council of britain accused the conservatives of approaching the issue with denial and deceit. We want to ensure that the conservative party has robust procedures. We think that we do, but we want to check that, we want to determine that, which is why we are committed to this independent review by the end of this year. Meanwhile, an equality and Human Rights Commission investigation into allegations of anti semitism in labour is ongoing. And while the chief rabbi has criticised the party before, timing matters. And right now, Jeremy Corbyn is working to win voters trust. Jessica parker, bbc news. Our chief Political Correspondent vicki young joins us live now from westminster. Can we talk about the position of Jeremy Corbyn and labour after this attack by the chief rabbi, which is pretty unprecedented. Where do we stand after all that . I think the problem forJeremy Corbyn of course is that this comes at the end of months, years of this issue of anti semitism been a problem, not just for his party but for him. And i think that is the striking part of this intervention from the chief rabbi. Its the fact that he talks about leadership. He talks about this been sanctioned from the top. In the past we have had spokespeople from the labour party and Jeremy Corbyn is well talking about improving the processes, the way that they discipline people, the way that they discipline people, the way that they discipline people, the way that they even might boot people out of the party. I think the problem here is that this is very much a personal attack on jeremy here is that this is very much a personal attack onJeremy Corbyn, saying that he hasnt done enough to deal with this issue. And of course it is not new, we have seen this issue really tear the party apart at times, particularly here in parliament. We have had labour mps leave the party because of this issue. So it is a question that has dogged Jeremy Corbyn for a long, long time. Now, he didnt really tackle it head on today. He did talk about anti semitism been vile, being evil, having no part in the party. And talked again about the processes and said that actually people that felt like this needed to engage with him to make sure that he understood how they felt. But i think the Bigger Picture here for labour is that at this point in the campaign with just two weeks to go, with many feeling that labour do need to start making upa feeling that labour do need to start making up a little bit of ground if they are to win an outright majority at this election. They dont want to be of course defending themselves on such a sensitive issue, they want to be talking about the kind of issues they think will win voters over to them. Many thanks. We will stay with this story because we are going to look at the impact on social media, how this has developed. Lets speak now to our digital election reporterjoe tidy, who is seeing how the campaign is playing out on social media. So lets talk about the response of this controversy today from the moment that the chief rabbis words and the kind of form of the attack we re and the kind of form of the attack were clear. And then we had labours response. How would you characterise the social media conversation . suppose it goes without saying that social media is only a snapshot of what the public are thinking and the sort of research that we have been doing looks up public posts and groups on twitter so again a snapshot of a snapshot but the things were picking up on is yes, there is heated debate going on about anti semitism in the labour party. But it is the way you are responding to this seems to be based on your politics. There seems to be entrenched views on either side and depending on which political leaning will you have that marks the way you dont feel about the story. I want to bring you to tweets that summarise this for us. The first one is from matthew butcher, this is green party and labour party supporter. He said. On the other side i want you to bring you from leave dot eu. So this gives you an idea, i hope, of the sort of feeling is that we are seen on both sides. In one of the things we have seen picked up very, very quickly on almost every conversation thread i have read on facebook about this story, one person or more has tweeted or posted a picture, which has come from the chief rabbis own facebook account from july. Here we are, this is when he posted saying congratulations to borisjohnson. They he posted saying congratulations to Boris Johnson. They are saying effectively this shows that he is a tory, he is the tory rabbi. A lot of people, a lot of fake news websites have written this up but this is proof that he is a biased voice in this political debate. In the wording of that he Say Something along the lines of he is a front of the Jewish Community. Along the lines of he is a front of theJewish Community. People are saying hes a friend of Boris Johnson. 50 saying hes a friend of Boris Johnson. So if they look at the kind of tone and language been used beyond those statements that you have just told us about and you mentioned there the suggestions from some quarters that the chief rabbi is sympathetic to the conservative cause. Do we see in all of this debate the kind of bad tempered, even toxic exchanges, that we have seen at times during this campaign . Has it permeated this as well . Yes, there are some sensible and balanced discussion going on, particularly on twitter. This story is much bigger on twitter than facebook in the group that im looking at. Undoubtedly when we are talking about anti semitism and islamophobia, these topics are effectively bring out the worst in social media. We are seeing some nasty stuff. It is in the minority, it has to be said. You dont log onto social media and you are hit with it but it is there and it is anti semitic, it is xenophobic and it is racist as well. The main picture that i am taking away from my analysis of social media on this particular story is this idea that it is all politics, it is all partisan. No matter how you feel about things, it is an entrenched view and we are seeing that, what are we got now, less than two weeks until the end of the election. Even something that seems quite big, this seems like it might move the dial on the election, at this stage people are the election, at this stage people a re really the election, at this stage people are really entrenched in their views and it is going to take a lot for people to change the opinion. And tonight, andrew neil will be speaking withJeremy Corbyn, in the second in his series of interviews with Party Leaders thats at seven oclock on bbc one and you can also watch on the bbc iplayer. Dont miss that, that should be a very interesting exchange. The Muslim Council of britain has accused the conservative party of denial, dismissal and deceit over islamophobia and having a blind spot over racism towards muslims. In a statement responding to the chief rabbis criticism of labour, the mcb, which represents more than 500 mosques and muslim groups, said very strongly worded statement thereby the muslim of britain. Thereby the muslim of britain. The Muslim Council of britain. Speaking while campaigning this afternoon, the chancellor, sajid javid, rejected the criticism by the Muslim Council of britain. We will never ever, as a party, tolerate anyone amongst our ranks that has any kind of prejudice to any group of people, whether that is based on their race or their religion, their gender, or anything else. We will never tolerate it. Whenever we have ever come across that kind of behaviour in a tiny, tiny number of cases, that all parties, including the labour party, all grassroots organisations. If someone joins without anyones knowledge that they dont stand for our values, then we take action and we take vigorous action. Our Political Correspondent ben wright has been following the Prime Ministers campaign, and we can speak to him in norwich. Its its a parallel accusation, ben, isnt it . You have the chief rabbi saying that labour has failed to tackle anti semitism effectively and the mcb saying exactly the same about the conservatives in relation to islamophobia. It is. It puts tory politicians on the spot, particularly considering that during the leadership contest earlier in the leadership contest earlier in the summer, all the candidates and borisjohnson were quite clear that they were determined to tackle any islamophobia in the tory party, come down hard on anyone found guilty of it, investigate allegations. And they promised an independent enquiry specifically into allegations of islamophobia. Now, that enquiry has not begun. Today, cabinet ministers has macabre said that it will start before christmas but they are talking about a broader enquiry into all forms of. Not specifically into claims of islamophobia that was mentioned in the summer and i think tory ministers are facing uncomfortable questions about that today. When we look at the campaign itself and how it is progressing, what is your sense of the way that the campaign is being read right now . Well, im here in norwich having just flown down from five, where the Prime Minister was launching the tory partys manifesto in scotland. I think the result of a quiet hum of confidence around the tory camp. I mean they read the opinion polls which suggest that they are ahead fairly comfortably at they are ahead fairly comfortably at the moment. They will also be very aware of what happened to theresa may in 2017 where it all went haywire in the last two or three weeks. So they will not be complacent. But i think they think that they have a fairly strong message in the tory camp. It was not Brexit Borisjohnson was trying to foreground and his pitch to tory voters, most of whom voted remain in the referendum. It was saying that the referendum. It was saying that the tory party was the only one that would absolutely under no circumstances agree to another Scottish Independence referendum. I think as long as he is in england and this campaign will carry on quite intensively now over the next two or three days, i think brexit will be the remorseless message by borisjohnson. Will be the remorseless message by Boris Johnson. Although will be the remorseless message by borisjohnson. Although interesting today by lord heseltine, a tory grandee who lost the whip early in the air, he has done the same this time round, saying they should vote liberal democrat in the general election. His view is that the brexit policy that Boris Johnson election. His view is that the brexit policy that borisjohnson is talking about is simply nonsense. You cant agree a full Free Trade Agreement in one year, which is what borisjohnson as claim. Senior tories have swatted away what lord heseltine has said today but what sort of deal i get the going to negotiate . And can they really come up negotiate . And can they really come up with the Free Trade Agreement in so little time . Then, thanks again once again thank you. The liberal democrats leader, jo swinson, has been campaigning on the environment, on visits to cornwall and cheltenham. The party has set out what it says are radical plans to curb the uks use of plastic. They include banning all nonessential, non recyclable, Single Use Plastics within the first three years of a liberal democrat government. I think weve all seen quite what the plastic pollution is doing to our oceans. Many people have watched those documentaries, whether it is David Attenborough and others that have very powerfully hit that message home that we need to change the way in which we use plastic. Now, companies, many of them are leading the way on this and they are showing where you can have alternatives to plastic, like some of the packaging that is being used here. But also how we can make sure that companies are thinking about the ingredients that they use in making their products in the first place. That was jo swinson the that wasjo swinson the lib dems leader campaigning in cornwall today. The headlines on bbc news. Labour responds to the chief rabbis severe criticism , of the partys record on anti semitism. But the conservatives have also been accused, by the the Muslim Council of britain, of failing to deal with islamophobia in the party. A Bleak Outlook on Climate Change, the United Nations says the world has to act much faster, to avoid Dangerous Levels of Global Warming. And in sportJose Mourinho will aim to ta ke tottenha m and in sportJose Mourinho will aim to take tottenham into the jump into League Knockout stages by winning his first home match in charge this evening. The chief of new Zealand Cricket has said the alleged perpetrator who racially abused Joffre Archer will be referred to the police. And andy murray says he is more relaxed about retiring from tennis now after spending so much time away from the spot recovering from a hip injury. And i will be back with more than stories after 5 30pm. See you then. Anybody yet to register to vote in next months general election, has until midnight tonight. Government figur

© 2025 Vimarsana