Two potential Labour candidates for a parliamentary position have been suspended.

One, Steven Saxby, was the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Cities of Westminster and London.

It is not clear why he has been suspended but it is understood it is not due to any allegations of antisemitism.

The second, Jas Athwal, was taking part in the race to be prospective parliamentary candidate in Ilford South.

Labour List said on Saturday he was suspended "following a meeting of a panel dealing with sexual harassment complaints".


Mr Saxby's Twitter and Facebook accounts and his personal website have been suspended.

It is understood that his case has been referred to the National Constitutional Committee and he has been suspended pending that process.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: "The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously, which are investigated and any appropriate disciplinary action taken in line with the party's rules and procedures. We can't comment on individual cases."

Mr Saxby, a vicar, would have stood against former Labour frontbencher and now Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna if he had been the prospective candidate when the general election was called.

The current MP for the seat is Tory Mark Field.

Labour stressed that, because he had been suspended, Mr Saxby was no longer Labour's candidate for constituency.

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Mr Athwal, leader of the council in the London Borough of Redbridge, was taking part in the selection process to become the prospective parliamentary candidate for Ilford South, a safe London seat.

He was said to have been a front-runner for the candidacy in the seat.

Mr Athwal's rival in that process, Jeremy Corbyn's former leadership campaign director Sam Tarry, tweeted: "I am gutted that the selection process in Ilford South has been suspended today, but it's absolutely the right thing to do.

"I am proud to have run a positive, people-powered campaign with hundreds of local supporters. I look forward to winning the vote when it comes back."

Mr Athwal denied behaving improperly and attacked the Labour Party for a lack of a "fair hearing and due process".

He said in a statement on Saturday: "I responded in detail to the Labour Party... No reply was received from the Labour Party. Nothing was heard until late yesterday, my solicitor was emailed at 11pm, advising that I was suspended.

"This is not a far process. It is contrary to natural justice. All I seek is a fair hearing and due process. The Labour Party has had every opportunity to deal with this matter properly and fairly in the past seven weeks and chose only to act late yesterday by suspending me when I had no time to challenge that decision."

Ilford South has been held by Mike Gapes since 1992, but he was one of the Labour MPs who left to become a member of the Independent Group for Change.

Labour MP for neighbouring constituency Walthamstow, Stella Creasy, expressed concerns about the process which had led to the suspensions.

She tweeted: "This is very troubling from across the border given vote planned for today-again confirms why labour urgently need independent process to ensure appearance and actual impartiality in how any allegation handled. Anyone chosen under such circumstances will be tainted by this too."