Board of Deputies launches revised and updated Jewish Manifesto to boost communal advocacy around the country

Following on from the success and popularity of the Board of Deputies’ Jewish manifestos for the 2015 General Election, 2016 devolved assemblies elections and the 2014 European elections, the Board of Deputies is today launching a revised and updated Jewish Manifesto to support and enhance communal advocacy around the country.

The manifesto is a comprehensive policy document for the community covering policy areas including antisemitism, Israel, education, religious freedom issues like Shechita and Brit Milah, and much more besides. As well as containing detailed information on each of these areas, the policies have once again been summarised into ‘Ten Commitments’ to give politicians an overall flavour of the community’s priorities. It has been updated to reflect policy developments since the last manifestos, and to include more recent figures on antisemitism and an expanded section on extremism.

The Board of Deputies will use this manifesto in its engagement with Government, parliamentarians and other decision makers and it is hoped that local communities will use the document, which will be available online and in hard-copy, in their own engagement with their local MPs.

It is being launched this week in advance of the Board of Deputies annual Parliamentary Chanukah Reception next week, for which close to 100 parliamentarians have confirmed their attendance.

Gillian Merron, Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “This Jewish Manifesto shows we are match-fit to engage with the key policy areas across Government and with politicians. At the Board of Deputies we want to empower our local communities to increase their engagement with their local MPs, and we hope that this resource will give them the confidence to do so. Parliamentarians and people in the community have told us how helpful they found the previous editions of this, and we are very pleased to provide this new, updated document.”

Read the Jewish Manifesto here.