KEZIA Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, has admitted her campaign has been damaged by the anti-Semitism row that has engulfed the UK party.

She said former London mayor Ken Livingstone's comments about Hitler being a Zionist were "appalling".

In an interview with Sky TV, she said the row had dominated the news agenda when she had hoped to highlight Labour's plans to improve schools and the health service.

She spoke out as Jeremy Corbyn insisted Labour was united in opposing anti-Semitism.

Allies of the UK Labour leader accused

internal critics of whipping up a false "crisis" to undermine his position.

Interviewed on Sky, Ms Dugdale was asked whether Mr Livingtone - who said Hitler was a Zionist before he "went mad and ended up killing six million Jews" - had "done a lot of damage" to Labour's election campaigns across the UK.

She said: "Unquestionably yes, Ken

Livingstone’s remarks have been appalling and have dominated the news over the past week when I would much rather we were talking about the bread and butter issues that the electorate want us to talk about."

"A news agenda dominated by Ken Livingstone’s remarks doesn’t help in that regard.

READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn 'leading the way' in tackling racism

"But he’s been suspended, there is an investigation underway now by a very highly regarded individual in Shami Chakrabarti and I hope that over the next few days we can focus on those bread and butter issues on how to build that fairer, more equal society."

She added: "I’m in the Labour party because I believe in tackling inequality and making the case for everyone having equal rights and a bright future together and I am going to continue to campaign for that.

"Now I want to see this issue taken very seriously, I want the right course of action to be taken but I also want in the last four days of this election campaign to move on to the substantive issues of this Scottish parliament election campaign."

When the row flared up last week, Ken Macintosh, Scottish Labour's candidate in Eastwood, home to Scotland's biggest Jewish community, was forced to issue a statement highlighting his track record fighting anti-Semitism.

Mr Corbyn said he and his party "stand absolutely against racism in any form".

"We stand united as a Labour movement recognising our faith diversity, our ethnic diversity, and from that diversity comes up strength," he declared as he addressed a May Day rally in London.

He has announced an independent review and pledged to tighten party codes of conduct in a bid to put a lid on the furore, which has seen MP Naz Shah and close ally Ken Livingstone suspended.

But he faced calls from Israeli politicians and diplomats to give a more "unequivocal" condemnation and warnings - including from the party's London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan - that the party would be punished in the May 5 elections.

It followed speculation that MPs were coming closer to launching a challenge to Mr Corbyn's leadership, with a poor showing at the ballot box or a vote in favour of Brexit potentially sparking an internal coup.

Opponents have accused him of acting too slowly to deal with incidents, most notably Mr Livingstone's comments.

But allies launched a ferocious fightback and warned critics they had no chance of ousting the leader.

Shadow cabinet minister Diane Abbott said it was "a smear to say that the Labour Party has a problem with anti-Semitism".

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, she said Mr Livingstone's comments - for which he has repeatedly declined to apologise - were "extremely offensive" but not part of any wider pattern.

"Two hundred thousand people have joined the Labour Party.

"Are you saying that because there have been 12 reported incidents of hate speech online, that the Labour Party is somehow intrinsically anti-Semitic?" she said.

She said she would be "dismayed if some people were hurling around accusations of anti-Semitism as part of some intra-Labour Party dispute".

Unite union leader Len McCluskey said Mr Corbyn was the victim of "a cynical attempt to manipulate anti-Semitism for political aims" that was "got up by the right-wing press aided and abetted by Labour MPs".

"Once the mood music of anti-Semitism dies down, then next week and the week after there will be another subject," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

The row had been ignited by party grandees who "get out of their wheelchair and toss a few hand grenades in", he said.

A poll carried out as the controversy unfolded gave the Conservatives an eight-point lead across the UK.

Israel's new ambassador to Britain said parts of the left were "in denial" about anti-Semitism and criticised Mr Corbyn's links to groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

"There has to be an unequivocal message from leadership saying that there is no solidarity with anti-Semites," Mark Regev said.