Starmer orders review of antisemitism in NHS as part of wider crackdown

The Prime Minister has ordered a review of antisemitism in the NHS, saying there are too many cases “simply not being dealt with”.

Sir Keir Starmer said Lord John Mann, the Government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, would lead the review as part of a wider crackdown on antisemitism in the UK.

During a visit to the Community Security Trust (CST), which provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK, Sir Keir also announced a £10 million boost for security at sites including synagogues and Jewish schools.

He told the CST: “We have heard loud and clear in the last few days and weeks that words are not enough, action is what matters.”

Announcing Lord Mann’s review, he said: “We’ve already put in place management training in relation to the NHS, but I think we need a wider review.

“Because in some cases, clear cases are simply not being dealt with.”

In a separate review published in July, Lord Mann and former Conservative minister Dame Penny Mordaunt warned of rising antisemitism across British society, including a “specific unaddressed issue” within the NHS.

Lord Mann said his review would “look at the issues that can undermine the confidence of individuals when seeking or receiving healthcare”.

It is expected to focus on how healthcare regulators tackle antisemitism and other forms of racism, while all 1.5 million NHS staff will be required to undergo updated mandatory antisemitism and anti-racism training.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Social Care said NHS England will review guidance on staff uniforms to “protect freedom of religious expression while ensuring patients feel respected at all times”.

NHS England and other healthcare bodies will also be asked to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism.

Andrew Gilbert, vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, welcomed the announcement, saying Jewish staff and patients had felt “let down by the NHS while antisemitism has been allowed to flourish and thrive”.

Sir Keir also criticised universities that had been “too slow” in dealing with cases of antisemitism, singling out the University of Oxford, which is understood to have suspended a student on Wednesday after he was arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

The student is alleged to have chanted for Gaza to “put the Zios in the ground” during a protest in London on Saturday.

Sir Keir said: “Look at Oxford this week. That was a slow reaction to the clearest of cases.”

His visit comes in the wake of the terrorist attack at the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester on October 2 that left two men dead.

And figures released by the Home Office last week suggest antisemitic hate crime remains near record levels.

Sir Keir said: “The figures are all going in the wrong direction.

“And it’s not just the figures, it’s the feeling of insecurity and the fear that it instils in our community.”

Sir Keir also paid tribute to the work of the CST, both in responding to the attack in Manchester and in protecting the Jewish community, saying he felt the benefit of its work when he attended synagogue with his family.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who accompanied the Prime Minister on his visit to the CST on Thursday, said she was reviewing protest legislation and providing additional police protection outside synagogues and other locations.

But she added that the “bigger question” was how to improve community cohesion so that Jewish children could “go to school without learning what a lockdown is”.

Mark Gardner, chief executive of CST, said he had had a “very straightforward and very productive” meeting with Sir Keir and Ms Mahmood.

He said: “Things that I was told to say, I didn’t really need to say, because both the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary said it in a very straightforward way, what the problem is and what needs done about it.

“And also that security is a bandage. We don’t want to live behind high walls for the rest of our lives.”

The Government said that it would also look at how best to support Muslim communities, which have experienced an increase in hate crime over the past year.