UK Edition
Tories to ban councils from boycotting products from Israel under manifesto plans
The Conservative Party will pledge to ban public bodies from boycotting or sanctioning foreign states in its manifesto, arguing that action by local councils against Israel have “undermined community cohesion”.
The policy will cover boycotts of products or divestment from pension funds connected to foreign states.
The BDS (boycott, divestment and sanction) movement encourages local councils to take action against Israel in support of Palestine.
The pledge is designed to contrast the party with Jeremy Corbyn, who has said banning BDS by councils is an “attack on local democracy”.
The Labour leader is not a supporter of blanket boycotts on Israeli goods but does back targeted action against settlements in the West Bank.
Banning local council action against foreign states would have prevented them from boycotting apartheid South Africa in the 1960s, he said.
A Conservative source said the party would “ban public bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycotts, sanctions or disinvestment against a foreign country”.
“Such local boycotts have undermined community cohesion,” the source added.
The Tories’ plan, first reported by The Sun, follows a series of local council motions intended to implement BDS in public procurement contracts or pension schemes.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank have long been a matter of debate in town halls.
The Government has previously said councils should not make their own foreign policy or create boycotts or sanctions that conflict with UK Government policy.
In 2014 the Labour-run Leicester Council voted to boycott settlement goods in an attempt to oppose the “continued illegal occupation” of Palestinian territory.
The decision was challenged in court by Jewish Human Rights Watch, an anti-BDS organisation.
The court of appeal ruled that the decision was not anti-Semitic because the council motion included an amendment that highlighted the importance of maintaining good community relationships.
Last year, a Barnet councillor proposed a motion to prevent the council from renting property to organisations that promote BDS.
A 2017 Government attempt to tackle local council foreign policymaking was challenged in the High Court by pro-Palestinian activists, but their case was ultimately dismissed.