THE Labour council leader said the party conference would not be welcome back in the city unless it addressed anti-Semitism.

Despite a overwhelming vote by delegates yesterday to adopt a stronger position against anti-Semitism, Brighton and Hove City Council leader Warren Morgan warned his own party to stay out the city unless it can give assurances bad headlines will not be repeated.

It has been reported that on Monday night at a conference fringe meeting questions were asked over the historical accuracy of the Holocaust and whether Jewish groups should be affiliated with the party.

In a letter released yesterday afternoon to Labour general secretary Iain MacNicol, Cllr Morgan said: “I will need reassurances that there will be no repeat of the behaviour and actions we have seen this week before any further bookings from the Party are taken.

“I must apply the same standards to Labour as I would to any other party conference or political event; whilst none of us can control what is said at meetings we do not run, I have to make the strongest possible representation on behalf of the residents of the city who are Jewish.”

A spokeswoman for the Sussex Jewish Representative Council sided with the town hall leader, saying: “The Jewish community is very grateful to Cllr Warren Morgan for his forthright support of our community and his denunciation of antisemitism.”

Tony Greenstein, who is understood to have been at the fringe meeting, is currently suspended from the party over allegations of anti-Semitism, He said: “To threaten the city with the loss of maybe £20 million of revenue, because a group of Israel supporters don’t like what was said at a meeting is absurd.”

He said Jewish party members who attended Monday’s meeting saw nothing wrong with what had been said and asked “what makes Warren Morgan such an expert?”

Meanwhile Nick Head, owner of the Ambassadors Hotel in Brighton and former chairman of Visit Sussex, said: “I think Warren is right, it’s not worth it. Conference gives us all a little bit of extra revenue but I’d rather not have the conference than have anti-Semitism in my city.”

Following the rule change agreed at conference, Ivor Caplin, the former MP for Hove and chairman of Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) south east, said: “We may well see resignations in the city. I think it’s likely we’ll see a few people who don’t agree with what the party has done, deciding this party is not for them.”

The amended rule, backed by JLM includes: “No member of the party shall engage in conduct which in the opinion of the NEC is prejudicial ... these shall include but not be limited to incidents involving racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia or otherwise racist language, sentiments, stereotypes or actions..” A spokeswoman for the Labour Party called anti-Semitism “repugnant” and said infractions would be investigated.