THE Labour Party has been forced to apologise after wrongly telling its youth section that it could not invite members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign to speak at a conference event. 

Activists from the campaign today questioned how they could have been considered as an illegitimate group, following reports that they would be prevented from taking part in Labour Party conference. 

Earlier this week Young Labour alleged that Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership team had blocked attempts to allow anyone from the campaign, as well as former party leader Jeremy Corbyn, to speak at fringe events. 

The group’s chair Jess Barnard posted on social media that Young Labour could miss out on its traditional day at party conference amid claims that there was no capacity for due diligence checks on possible events. 

The Morning Star understands that Labour Party officials made a verbal apology to both Young Labour and the campaign during a meeting on Wednesday night. 

The campaign claims that Labour has now accepted that this was a mistake and the group has confirmed that its stall at this year’s conference and annual fringe event will take place. 

In a statement, the group said: “We have no desire to exaggerate the nature of this incident. PSC was not banned from the conference and the message that we were not suitable to be on a Young Labour platform was quickly reversed after interventions.

“However, it is impossible to ignore the context within which this issue arose and the broader concerns to which it speaks.”

The concerns were reported to have been due to the campaign holding “controversial positions, including support for Palestinian calls for boycott and divestment sanctions against Israel, which Labour feared may violate the IHRA definition of anti-semitism. 

In light of this recent incident, Palestine Solidarity Campaign is pressing the Labour Party to take action to protect the right to campaign within the party for justice for the Palestinian people, reiterating calls for a meeting with Sir Keir and general secretary David Evans. 

A campaign spokeswoman added: “The key item we wish to discuss is the action the leadership will be taking to ensure that the space to discuss the oppression faced by Palestinians and the necessary action to address it is fully protected in the Labour Party.”

The Labour Party was approached for comment.