This has been a truly miserable summer for the Labour party. We could have been tearing the Tories to pieces over Europe, staff shortages in the NHS and the state of the criminal justice system. Instead, the headlines have been dominated by a self-inflicted crisis over antisemitism and the increasingly toxic level of debate within our own party.

It is too easy to dismiss Frank Field’s resignation from the Labour whip. For all his achievements rooted in Labour values – from defeating the 10p tax rate Gordon Brown wanted to bring in, to challenging the excessive greed of the likes of Philip Green and the exploitation of gig economy – Frank is outside of the Labour mainstream on Europe and has always been something of a maverick. We’re told that he was facing deselection in his Birkenhead party and so jumped before he was pushed. End of story? Not at all.

Frank Field resigns Labour whip over antisemitism crisis Read more

It would be a terrible mistake to cheer Frank’s departure from the Labour party. The two issues he raises in his resignation letter – antisemitism and the toxic political culture in too many parts of the party – must urgently be addressed to prevent the crisis facing the Labour party becoming an existential one. The fundamental cultural issue is that there is little, if any, good faith left in the party. Every issue is reduced to a simple question: are you for or against Jeremy Corbyn? Every action by Labour MPs, like me, who didn’t support Corbyn in either leadership contest, is viewed through that prism.

Field’s letter to the Labour chief whip.

It means that warnings made in good faith about the problems of antisemitism within our party and the toxic culture dominating some local parties are simply dismissed as smears to undermine the Labour leadership. Even Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, was greeted with a barrage of online abuse and calls for his resignation for suggesting that Labour should adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition on antisemitism following calls from the overwhelming majority of British Jews to do so.

We cannot go on like this. If these divisions are irreconcilable, the Labour party faces its biggest crisis since 1981. A split in the party would mean another term, if not another generation, of Conservative government. Enabling another Tory government would be unconscionable and a split on the left would be a catastrophic and historic mistake. That is not a morally neutral position for anyone on the left. The Conservatives have their own racist demons to confront: from the immigration policy that brought us the Windrush scandal to appalling Islamophobia at every level of their party. Labour MPs see the consequences of their social policies in our casework every week through homelessness, destitution and rising child poverty. The majority of the public are experiencing the impact of Tory austerity on their public services, from longer waiting times for operations to a lack of visible community policing.

Antisemitism? No, Frank Field jumped before he was pushed | Owen Jones Read more

We won’t win the next general election if we’re seen as divided and soft on racism, but there is also bigger moral issue. Tackling the two challenges identified in Frank Field’s resignation letter – antisemitism and our toxic culture – isn’t just a matter of winning votes, it goes to the heart of who we are and what we stand for. When we are called upon to stand up against antisemitism that arises within our ranks by the vast majority of British Jews, we have a moral duty to respond. When long-serving party volunteers tell us they’re being bullied out of taking part, something is badly wrong.

Watson has warned the party to treat this as a “wake-up call”. It is clear from their responses that some are still day dreaming under the misapprehension that departures like this will make our party stronger. Common endeavour, solidarity and respect are the hallmarks of the Labour tradition. The party of Tony Benn and Tony Blair has always been a broad church. It’s time for the vicar to remind his flock for all of us, together, to rid the Labour party of antisemitism and the deeply divisive toxic culture that has been allowed to fester for far too long.

• Wes Streeting is the Labour MP for Ilford North