Labour withdraws support for Rochdale candidate

Labour says it has “withdrawn support” for Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali after his comments on Israel.

The BBC understands Mr Ali has been suspended from Labour pending an investigation.

The party said the decision was taken after “new information about further comments” by Mr Ali came to light. Earlier on Monday, Labour had defended standing by him as a candidate.

It is too late for the party to replace Mr Ali as its candidate.

He is alleged to have told a Labour party meeting that Israel had “allowed” the deadly attack by Hamas gunmen on 7 October.

After the comments came to light, Mr Ali apologised “to Jewish leaders for my inexcusable comments”.

Labour has faced intense pressure since the remarks surfaced, with widespread condemnation from party members and political rivals.

Withdrawing support for Mr Ali will come as a blow to Labour, who had initially stood by him as the candidate to take over as MP for Rochdale after the death Sir Tony Lloyd.

Frontbenchers Lisa Nandy and Anneliese Dodds had been out campaigning for Mr Ali in the constituency at the weekend.

Shadow minister Nick Thomas-Symonds had also been sent out to defend Labour’s decision to back Mr Ali on Monday morning.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the comments were “completely and utterly unacceptable” but suggested Mr Ali understood the “gravity of the offence that has been caused” and had “unreservedly apologised”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accused Labour of only withdrawing support for Mr Ali due to “enormous media pressure”.

“That’s not principled”, Mr Sunak said.