Northumberland Labour’s deputy leader has welcomed the new arrangements approved the party’s national executive committee to ensure complaints are handled impartially, fairly and rationally.

The move is a critical step on the Labour Party’s journey to build confidence in its commitment to tackle antisemitism and all other discrimination on the grounds of protected characteristics such as disability, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership.

Liz Simpson said: “Northumberland Labour welcomes this decision taken at our national executive. It’s absolutely vital for Labour party members and the general public to know the complaints will be handled by an independent review panel. The new independent appeal board will replace the party’s exiting arrangements. 

“The way the party was handling complaints from MPs was not satisfactory and the decision made by the party quite clearly address this.

“We want complaints processes everywhere to be trustworthy and transparent and we very much welcome Labour making its processes clear and plain.

“We’ve seen from our experience at Northumberland County Council that complaints handled badly does no one any favours. Whistle-blowers at the council have been bullied and targeted for simply speaking up where they see things are not as they should be.

“Labour’s new procedures are a model for how complaints can be handled in a clear, fair and transparent way.”