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Labour has ordered the removal of copies of The Sun from its party conference in Liverpool after an angry complaint from the city's mayor.

The newspaper, widely boycotted on Merseyside over its coverage of the Hillsborough disaster, was allegedly "hidden" beneath The Times at a stand sponsored by their owner News UK.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson told the Liverpool Echo: “I don’t know how that was allowed into the conference centre.

"It’s a disgrace, and I apologise on behalf of the conference centre. It will be stopped right now.”

Today a Labour spokeswoman said the stand at ACC Liverpool had been told to remove the paper by general secretary Iain McNicol.

(Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

She said: "As soon as we became aware of the complaint the general secretary immediately instructed the exhibitor to remove the copies of the paper from display."

However, after this story was first published, a photo was taken of the newspaper still in situ on the stand.

It was not immediately clear if the message was being disobeyed or had simply not got through.

Garston and Halewood MP Maria Eagle welcomed the decision and denied it was curbing free speech.

She told the Mirror: "I can understand people making that argument but it's not one in these circumstances that I agree with."

She added: "I don't think everybody who comes to Liverpool understands the strength of feeling about it. We feel very strongly about it and have for 27 years".

Tony Kearns, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, voiced his anger on the conference stage.

“People and football fans were vilified and lied about by that paper," he said, adding people took it “wrapped it in a copy of the Times because they were ashamed”.

He said: “Show some respect to the people of this city!”

(Image: Mirrorpix)

The Sun has been boycotted since running a front-page story which repeated false slurs about Hillsborough victims and survivors under the headline "The Truth".

Lengthy inquests in April found fans were utterly blameless for the 1989 FA Cup semi-final stadium crush that killed 96 people.

Instead the jury heaped blame on the chaotic response by police and the attempt to shift blame afterwards.