Labour will appoint a Jewish advisory board to help oversee the creation of an independent disciplinary process to respond to incidents of antisemitism. The party announced the change, which is part of an overhaul ordered by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, after the body found it was responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act when dealing with complaints of antisemitism among members. It has now published an “action plan for driving out antisemitism”, which the EHRC agreed could be placed into the public domain. In it, the party commits to drafting a new process for dealing with complaints by April next year, and implementing it as soon as possible after the 2021 party conference, which would need to approve the changes. An advisory board of Jewish stakeholders will be appointed to consult about the new system, and Labour will report back to the EHRC regularly about progress. In a foreword to the document, Angela Rayner said: “We failed the Jewish community, our members, our supporters and the country. That is why we must act to drive antisemitism out of our party and change the processes, structures and the culture of the party to ensure Jewish people feel safe to return to their political home. That requires more than just words. It requires action.” Other changes planned by Labour include ensuring the offices of the leader and deputy leader have no involvement in overseeing individual cases, and creating a culture that encourages members and staff to feel able to challenge inappropriate behaviour and, where necessary, to complain. Labour has promised to tackle the backlog of antisemitism complaints. The party also plans to strengthen its social media guidelines – a move that could potentially lead to more members being disciplined – and to improve due diligence on the social media accounts of candidates. The EHRC welcomed Labour’s report. Alastair Pringle, its executive director, said: “The Labour party has produced a comprehensive action plan that meets the recommendations made in our investigation report. It will take time to rebuild the trust of the membership and the public. This is an important step in the right direction. We are satisfied these changes are realistic and achievable and we will continue to monitor and work with the Labour party so this plan is adhered to.” While the measures were drawn up in response to the antisemitism report, they will also cover other complaints. Rayner said: “We will be establishing an independent process to investigate complaints of antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, sexual harassment and any discrimination based on protected characteristics.” The publication of the EHRC report in October sparked an internal Labour split after Jeremy Corbyn responded by saying the scale of the problem in the party had been “dramatically overstated” for political reasons. Corbyn was subsequently suspended from the Labour party. Three weeks later he was readmitted by the ruling national executive committee but Keir Starmer declined to restore the whip, so Corbyn is now sitting as an independent MP. That decision has infuriated Corbyn’s supporters in the party, including his former frontbench colleagues Diane Abbott and John McDonnell. Labour’s general secretary, David Evans, has banned MPs and members from expressing solidarity with Corbyn, or criticising the EHRC’s findings at constituency Labour party meetings. The leftwing campaign group Momentum responded by accusing Evans of “yet another disturbing attack on the rights of members to democratically discuss matters vital to the party”. Momentum is calling for the Labour general secretary to become an elected post. Evans was Starmer’s preferred candidate for the job. Corbyn was also able to secure the post for his pick, Jennie Formby.