Lord Leigh of Hurley in the House of Lords on Tuesday called on more British universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
Lord Leigh said: “It is very disappointing that only five institutions have agreed to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism”. He asked Government Whip Baroness Berridge whether she would join him “in encouraging all the Members of this House who serve as chancellors, masters, wardens, principals and fellows of universities to encourage their institutions to adopt that definition”.
He asked: “The EHRC recently introduced guidelines on freedom of expression, requiring universities to have a particular code. Does the Minister agree that, if the universities adopted the IHRA definition, that would satisfy the requirements of the code in respect of antisemitism?”
Baroness Berridge underlined that the Government “strongly encourages higher education strongly encourage higher education providers to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism”.
She added: “The Universities Minister and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government have, between them, written to providers a total of three times”.
She said: “As autonomous institutions, the decision rests with individual providers, but the Government will continue to urge and encourage them to adopt this important definition”.
