Young Labour's Twitter account 'restricted' after series of tweets about Russia and Ukraine

Young Labour's Twitter account has been restricted following a clash between it and the wider party over how to deal with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Access to the youth-wing of the party's social media accounts "has been restricted until further notice" with Labour accusing it of being "actively detrimental" to the party's objectives after it posted a string of tweets criticising the Labour Party's stance on the conflict.

Young Labour sparked tensions with the party after it issued a statement on the Labour's response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that said they were “especially concerned" with party leader Keir Starmer, criticising him for "pushing not only for further engagement with NATO, but celebrating it while attacking Stop The War and other pro-peace activists”.

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“Nato’s acts of aggression both historical and present are a threat to all of our safety,” they said.

“Stoking up tension, macho posturing & trying to ‘outdo’ the Tories on hawkish foreign policy will only lead to further devastation, loss of life and displacement of people across the world.”

Starmer had written a piece in the Guardian in which he said the Stop the War Coalition are “not benign voices for peace”, adding: “At best they are naive, at worst they actively give succour to authoritarian leaders who directly threaten democracies.”

The leader also threatened to remove the whip from 11 Labour MPs - including former Jeremy Corbyn frontbenchers Diane Abbott, Richard Burgon and John McDonnell - for supporting a Stop The War letter.

In its reaction Young Labour also condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – stating, “Young Labour condemns Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The actions of Russia, the use of force and the contravention of international law is utterly reprehensible.”

But the party locked it out, then said it would be "liaising with the Young Labour committee and representatives to ensure there is transparency and accountability for future posts" from the account.

Meanwhile,the Mirror reports that Labour have also slashed the youth wing's funding and scrapped its annual conference

Jess Barnard, the chair of Young Labour, posted the following statement on Twitter responding to the party's changes.

It read: "We are deeply disappointed by the decision of the Labour Party to block our social media access without any prior warning or discussion with the committee.

"We hope to resolve this issue immediately and are seeking dialogue with the party.

"It is important that young members are not bullied into silence and we will continue to push for a democratic and autonomous Young Labour."

Meanwhile, a Labour source reportedly told LabourList: “This is a small factional group that have taken over an official channel to spend their entire time tweeting bollocks. Their Twitter has been taken off them until they sort themselves out.”

indy100 has contacted the Labour Party and Young Labour to comment on this story.

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