The secretary of Liverpool Walton Labour party was yesterday suspended by national party bosses.
Alan Gibbons, the Labour candidate for Warbreck Moor, received an email from Labour headquarters detailing his suspension.
He said no explanation was given, but Mr Gibbons says he believes it is linked to Walton Constituency Labour Party recently passing a motion supporting restoring the whip to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Corbyn was reinstated to the party in mid-November after a 19-day suspension for saying the party’s problem with antisemitism had been overstated - but the whip has not been restored to allow him to sit as a Labour MP in the House of Commons.
The ECHO understands Mr Gibbons has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party, pending investigation.
The move is directly linked to Labour's current stance following the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report that found the party responsible for unlawful acts of discrimination and harassment.
Mr Corbyn said he did not accept all of the EHRC’s findings and that the scale of the antisemitism problem in Labour was “dramatically overstated” for political reasons.
Mr Gibbons has reacted to his suspension today by saying that "left-wing members were being suspended arbitrarily" and that the Labour Party was "doing them a disservice by turning on its own members.”
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In a statement released to the ECHO, Mr Gibbons said: "I had just got in from another day volunteering at the Walton Vale Community hub when I opened the email telling me I had been suspended from the Labour Party, no reason given.
"It felt like a punch in the guts
"I’ve voted Labour my whole life, but like many I was finally inspired to join the party as a member when Jeremy Corbyn’s became leader and spent the last few years campaigning alongside hundreds of my fellow socialists in Walton."
The former teacher and children's author added: "We have campaigned to save two local fire stations from overnight closure, supported working people on every picket line, chased fascists out of the city and fought food poverty, including delivering food parcels to those in need during the coronavirus crisis.
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"Now, many left-wing Labour Party members across the country are being suspended arbitrarily.
"The people and communities that our party represents are facing real hardship this winter.
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"The Labour Party does them a disservice by turning on its own members.”
A Labour Party spokeswoman said: "The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate action is taken."
This morning, a host of MPs and other figures spoke on social media in support of Mr Gibbons, including Leeds East Labour MP Richard Burgon and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.
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Mr McDonnell wrote: "Heard Alan Gibbons has been suspended.
"Alan is a hard working, principled socialist, who wins respect for the party for the work he does in the community.
"He hasn’t heard what he’s suspended for but let me warn the bureaucracy, they’ve a fight on and I’m with Alan in it."
In response to messages of support, Mr Gibbons replied: "I'll be fighting this authoritarian twaddle like many other suspended socialists."