Labour needs to change. Frank Field’s resignation letter tells us how | Wes Streeting

Unaddressed antisemitism and our toxic culture has divided this great party. We must find a solution – without splitting

This has been a truly miserable summer for the Labour party. We could have been tearing the Tories to pieces over Europe, staff shortages in the NHS and the state of the criminal justice system. Instead, the headlines have been dominated by a self-inflicted crisis over antisemitism and the increasingly toxic level of debate within our own party.

It is too easy to dismiss Frank Field’s resignation from the Labour whip. For all his achievements rooted in Labour values – from defeating the 10p tax rate Gordon Brown wanted to bring in, to challenging the excessive greed of the likes of Philip Green and the exploitation of gig economy – Frank is outside of the Labour mainstream on Europe and has always been something of a maverick. We’re told that he was facing deselection in his Birkenhead party and so jumped before he was pushed. End of story? Not at all.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2LFZFOJ