The University of Manchester Students’ Union (UMSU) has accepted that it would be unlawful to implement a BDS motion, since it does not support its charitable objects. This followed correspondence from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).

UKLFI wrote to UMSU’s Trustees at the end of December 2023 after an all-student vote in favour of a motion to promote BDS against Israel.

UKLFI reminded the Trustees that UMSU’s charitable objects are limited to the advancement of education at the University of Manchester and do not include a political campaign against Israel and in support of Palestinians.

UKLFI further noted that implementing the motion would be liable to contradict UMSU’s charitable objects, by damaging the welfare of Jewish students. In this regard, UKLFI referred to research at US campuses which shows that BDS campaigns promote the targeting of Jewish students for harm.

UKLFI’s letter drew attention to the power and responsibility of UMSU’s Trustees under its constitution to override unlawful decisions or policies made by members.

On 8 May 2024, UMSU circulated and posted on its website a statement on the vote and next steps. Following a warning that “The content of this message may be upsetting to read, so please take care and read only when you have the emotional capacity to do so”, the statement explained:

• A large majority of those who voted were in favour of the motion (although this was only a little over 10% of the total number of students).
• UMSU had been taking legal advice since January.
• As outlined in charity law, UMSU can solely advocate and intervene on matters directly relevant to students as students, and its charitable goals revolve around enhancing student education, welfare and overall University experience.
• UMSU is legally entitled to facilitate political debates, as they have an educational purpose, and communicate the outcome of a vote, but cannot advocate for issues outside its charitable scope and cannot push the University to implement BDS measures.
• There would be no banning of speakers as a result of the motion, as UMSU is obliged to follow the code of practice on free speech.

In a Q & A section of this statement, UMSU confirmed that it had received a letter from UKLFI and instructed independent lawyers to respond.

UMSU accepted that it should have sought legal advice on implementation of the BDS motion before it was scheduled to be discussed at the Union Assembly.

Jonathan Turner, UKLFI Chief Executive, said: “We welcome this correct decision which is in line with NUS guidance. We recommend that all student unions check this guidance before allowing BDS motions to proceed, to avoid subsequent disappointment when they cannot be implemented.”

UKLFI has successfully opposed, or assisted students successfully to oppose, more than 30 BDS resolutions of student unions at different UK universities over the last few years.