Anti-Semitism Row: Labour Suspends 16

Sixteen Labour members have been suspended pending investigations into alleged anti-Semitism and racism, according to Sky News sources.

Three councillors were suspended in the space of seven hours on Monday after it emerged all had posted offensive comments on their Facebook accounts - all claiming Israel should be relocated to the US.

One, the former Blackburn Mayor Salim Mulla, even claimed Israel was behind so-called Islamic State sharing a post that suggested French and Japanese support for the Palestinians had led to revenge attacks from the terrorists.

:: Labour Suspends Three Councillors In Anti-Semitism Row

Sky News has learned 16 Labour members have been suspended for anti-Semitism since Jeremy Corbyn took control of the party. Reports had suggested Labour had secretly suspended as many as 50.

Mr Corbyn is under pressure over the anti-Semitism crisis engulfing his party amid suggestions it could lose more than 100 seats at the local elections on Thursday.

London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan has said the issue has already hurt his campaign.

:: Livingstone 'Can't Remember' Why He Made Hitler Comment

However, unveiling a local election poster this morning, the Labour leader, who has been sharply criticised for failing to get to grips with the problem, dismissed the suspensions as a "very small number of cases".

He said the matter had "been dealt with" and that Labour would not lose any seats.

Unite leader Len McCluskey claimed Mr Corbyn's opponents within the party were using the problem to try to destabilise his leadership and mount a challenge.

Mr Corbyn said: "I don't know who these Labour MPs are but I would advise every member of the party, including our MPs, to get out there on the doorstep and campaign. We have two days to go."

The Labour leader accused the media of being "obsessed" with his leadership when they should be obsessed with "the devastating crisis of inequality in our society".

:: Ken Livingstone: A Profile

The anti-Semitism row hit crisis point last week when the party suspended Ken Livingstone, who said in an interview that Hitler was a supporter of Zionism and Jewish nationalism "before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews".

He had been defending the Bradford West MP Naz Shah, who had been suspended a day earlier after it was disclosed she had shared a post on her Facebook account suggesting Israel be relocated to the US.