Antisemitism in Schools and Colleges

Judith Cummins Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Education (Lucy Powell)]

With permission, I will make a statement on Sir David Bell’s review into antisemitism in schools and colleges in England. First, let me just apologise for some of the reporting in the media. The full report and Government response were laid in the House this morning and were not given to the media first. I have ordered a leak inquiry into this matter.

Today, Sir David has published this seminal review, exposing the shocking scale of antisemitism in British society and how that is reflected across education. Almost three in five Jewish young people and half of Jewish teachers have experienced or witnessed antisemitism. That cannot continue. Let me place on record my sincere thanks to Sir David for his excellent report and to the reference group for their support.

Make no mistake, this is a report for every teacher, every staff member, every education leader and every student listening today. All children and teachers should be able to go to school or college free from fear, but there is a wider responsibility for education as a whole to teach our young people British values of tolerance, acceptance and respect for one another. Collectively, we have a duty to educate this generation and the next on what antisemitism is, on why it is wrong, and on what happens when it takes hold in society. Whether or not there are Jewish staff and students in your school or college, this report is for you. This generational challenge belongs to us all.

We all know that antisemitism is an ancient evil. Today it remains as pernicious as ever, but its modern mutation is in many ways more prominent and more prevalent. Perhaps most concerning of all, that is especially true among young people. Old tropes have found new life in the modern world. The fallacy that Jewish networks control the global economy and other such delusions once confined to the fringes have found a new home on social media. Antisemitism is now normalised and amplified in echo chambers online, reaching directly into children’s bedrooms. I thank my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for her leadership and commitment in tackling this issue, and I am grateful for her collaboration.

As Sir David’s report also identifies, the conflict in the middle east has significantly fanned the flames of division here at home. Misunderstanding, ignorance and deliberate misrepresentation can quickly lead to antisemitism—at times casual, at others more serious, and all too often unreported and unchallenged. As a House and a Government, we must be clear: blaming British Jews for the actions of the Israeli Government is antisemitism; assuming British Jews have a particular political standpoint because they are Jewish is antisemitism; and targeting British Jews out of concern for Palestine is antisemitism. When such views and behaviours are expressed in any school or college, whether or not they are aimed directly at a Jewish person, they are antisemitic, and we have a duty to challenge them.

Sitting at the centre of our communities, schools and colleges have a leadership role in fostering tolerance, compassion and respect for difference. Let me be clear: teachers should not bring their own political views into the classroom. That is a fundamental of education. However, this principle should not lead to a shying away from difficult debates. In fact, as Sir David’s report clearly recommends, schools and colleges should be the place for important discussions, but school leaders often fear reprisals, protests or accusations of political bias, so they avoid discussing and addressing important topics. I want to empower our teachers and school and college leaders to tackle these issues head on. Our young people have to learn how to navigate contentious debates thoughtfully and respectfully, and to understand that antisemitism and other forms of racism are wrong. That is a job for education, but we all have a responsibility to set the tone, here in this House and in the media too—robust debate and challenge matched with respect, tolerance and disagreeing amicably.

A new approach is needed. Antisemitism is unique in both historical context and its reach today. It demands a unique response. That is why this Government accept all 27 recommendations from Sir David’s review. I thank everyone who contributed their views and experiences, but above all, I want to recognise the Jewish community directly for their bravery in engaging with the review. I do not take lightly the personal cost they have paid in recounting their deeply hurtful experiences. They have not only my thanks but my word that their voices will be heard. Change will come.

I turn to the report’s recommendations. First, definition matters. Combating antisemitism starts with identifying it. I agree with Sir David that the use of a common and consistent definition will improve understanding and confidence. I will therefore write to all schools and colleges to set out my expectation that they adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. As Sir David recommends, we will strengthen the safeguarding guidance to make it clear that antisemitism is a distinct risk and therefore requires a distinct safeguarding response. I also accept the recommendation that all education settings should record antisemitic incidents as a specific category. Sir David also says that school and college leaders, as well as head and teacher unions, need more support to identify and challenge antisemitism. We will develop and roll out high-quality training, good practice guidance and practical resources, as well as dedicated support for leaders managing complex and serious incidents involving antisemitism and other forms of racism, including support for escalation when it is needed. We will also give schools and colleges clear and specific support when it comes to how and when controversial and sensitive issues should be discussed.

We will update and strengthen Holocaust education, so that this generation and the next can better understand the horrors of the Holocaust, how it came about, and why that should matter to us today. I can confirm that such education will continue to be compulsory in the national curriculum. However, as Sir David has recommended, while it is right that every child should know about the Holocaust, that should not be the only thing that they know about Jewish people and their history. We will ensure, through the curriculum, that the contribution, culture and history of Jewish people in Britain are well understood and appreciated. Judaism is a diverse, modern and generous faith tradition, and the curriculum should reflect that as well.

However, this is not just about what happens in the classroom. One of the most shocking findings of Sir David’s review was that following the Heaton Park synagogue terrorist attack, educational visits to the Manchester Jewish Museum in my constituency fell by half, just when those visits were needed most. We will boost opportunities for engagement with Jewish cultural experiences. The testimonies of Jewish teachers and leaders in Jewish schools about how much of their time was spent on safety and not teaching were particularly concerning. We cannot build ever higher walls around our Jewish institutions, but we will continue to work with the Community Security Trust and the Home Office to ensure that children and staff can be safe, happy and supported.

Sir David looked closely at the issue of political symbols displayed by staff and students. He found it not to be a widespread issue, and therefore concluded that extending existing legal duties on schools would be disproportionate. I accept his recommendation, but as Education Secretary, I should make it clear that I would not expect to see teachers coming to school or college wearing or displaying any political material.

There are further important recommendations for leaders of schools and colleges, and for teachers, staff, parents and unions, among others. I will ensure that we work to do what needs to be done and to maintain momentum. I have set up an implementation group, which will get to work immediately, and I have asked Sir David to conduct a one-year review of the implementation of his recommendations.

Although universities are not in the scope of the review, I want to make it clear to the House that the rise in antisemitism on our campuses is completely unacceptable. I wrote to all vice-chancellors earlier this month about the steps that they need to take to combat antisemitism, and I will continue to act wherever I can.

This is an incredibly important moment for education and for our country. It falls to our generation to educate the next on what can happen to a society when antisemitism is allowed to take hold, and why we all have a duty to root it out. I commend this statement to the House.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the right hon. Lady for what she has said, for discussing these issues with me yesterday, and for her contribution to the review; I know that she spent time speaking to Sir David, which he really valued. As she has said and as I have said, this is an issue that we should address collectively, with one voice and as one House. I think we all agree that we do not want to hear any testimonies such as those to which she has just referred, although she was right to do so.

I will pick up on a couple of the right hon. Lady’s points. Enforcement and data collection and measurement will all be absolutely critical to ensuring both implementation and, more importantly, change. In a year’s time, I hope I am able to come back to the House and say that the situation has improved. That is why we are updating the teacher standards, and why we are including in the safeguarding framework the obligation to have regard to antisemitism. She will know that safeguarding is a key issue that Ofsted looks into and inspects. We are updating and boosting the requirement to report, because when things are reported, action can follow. If we need to go further, we will, but today we have set out, in response to Sir David’s review, a number of ways in which these things will be measured and enforced.

Sir David looked into the issue of trade unions in his review, and he was clear in his report. I asked him to do the review, and I fully take what he found in that. He is clear that he does not believe that any education union is inherently antisemitic, and he is also clear that the education unions should have robust policies and processes in place to tackle these issues, and to ensure that members are sufficiently trained. I have discussed these matters with the education unions, and I know that they are keen to put things right.

In the spirit of coming together on this issue, I gently say to the right hon. Lady that the fear of reprisal, and of media or political attention, when it comes to being politically impartial—we have heard this testimony time and again—has led to many school leaders and teachers fearing to tackle these issues head-on. They do not want to go into debates on the subject when they hear some of the age-old tropes in the classroom, for fear of reprisals, or of not being supported. Sir David’s review is very clear that schools and colleges absolutely should be places where issues can be debated, challenged, discussed and brought to life. We have to get the balance right. If anything, I would say that things have moved too far in the other direction. The fears about not being politically impartial is hampering our teachers and school leaders, preventing them from doing what they need to do.

I am glad that the right hon. Lady mentioned the Green party; I see the hon. Member for Gorton and Denton (Hannah Spencer) in her seat. We Labour Members are absolutely clear that the motion passed by the Green party is wrong—it is antisemitic. The Green party leadership has a much deeper responsibility here, because it has such reach with young people. The motion is being repeated in campuses, councils and colleges, and that is causing widespread fear. It has resulted in ever increasing antisemitism since the report was published. I ask the Green party to consider these issues very carefully.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the Chair of the Education Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for her leadership, and for the work that she continues to do as Chair of the Education Committee. I know of the incident involving her constituent, which we have discussed a couple of times, and I was as horrified as she was to hear of it. I hope that the students and schools involved in that incident are listening today and understand that they should have gone further. They can still go further in challenging what happened to her young constituent, and take action.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: we must support teachers and school and college leaders in developing capacity, skills and confidence, so that they feel supported in challenging these behaviours and creating an environment where this can be discussed. It is absolutely critical that students understand that certain ideas are wrong, and what it means when they are expressed. As she knows, we are in the middle of updating the curriculum. A new citizenship curriculum is coming on stream in primary and secondary schools, and we will ensure this issue is included. We will also update teacher training, as well as doing all the other things that I have announced today, that were in the report.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her very welcome statement, and Sir David Bell for all his work on the review. Importantly, I thank all those who bravely shared their experiences with Sir David.

Antisemitism has no place in our society, and we Liberal Democrats reaffirm our commitment to rooting out this evil in all its forms. We welcome and accept all the recommendations in the Bell review, some of which we have been calling for, and we are committed to working with the Government to support its implementation. As set out in the report, the scale of the challenge is alarming. Just last month, a teenage boy was attacked at Belsize Park tube station on his way home from Hasmonean high school, a Jewish school in north London. It is being treated as a hate crime.

When I met children and young people who attend Richmond synagogue, they told me about their horrendous experiences of bullying, both physical and verbal, at school and university. Most of them are having to hide their faith. No one in this country should have to hide their faith. Our schools and colleges should be safe and welcoming places to learn where every child feels they belong, not places of fear.

I thank the Community Security Trust for its tireless work protecting the Jewish community. Although extra support for security at Jewish schools is welcome, my Jewish constituents tell me that they do not want ever higher walls built around them. I particularly welcome recommendation 17, on support for discussion of sensitive topics. Some of my young constituents have told me that they were not allowed to discuss events in the middle east at school. We know that shutting down debate in what should be a safe space only pushes it into darker spaces.

My main question for the Secretary of State today is whether she will provide any extra funding to help schools, colleges and local authorities in implementing the recommendations, or whether they will have to rely on existing budgets. As she said, this generational challenge belongs to all of us, Jewish or not. All the individual recommendations are important but, crucially, we need a culture change across our society, and that starts with education.