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A no-confidence motion in a Jewish Labour MP was scrapped tonight after claims she was targeted for criticising Jeremy Corbyn over anti-Semitism.

Luciana Berger, who is eight months pregnant, faced a vote of no confidence by her local constituency party in Liverpool next week.

But the plan was axed and the meeting cancelled in what sources close to the Labour leadership described as “the right decision”.

Earlier, John McDonnell denied activists were trying to censure Ms Berger because she had condemned Mr Corbyn’s response to the anti-Semitism crisis gripping the party.

The Shadow Chancellor, a key ally of the party leader, suggested the move was fuelled by claims she has been linked with a breakaway pro-EU party.

(Image: Leon Neal)

He told Sky News: “If people are saying, ‘Look, we are expressing a vote of no confidence because Luciana has stood up and exposed anti-Semitism in our party’, that would be completely wrong and, of course, we would say that is not right.

“But it looks as though there’s other issues.

“It seems on social media, from what I’ve seen, what’s happened is Luciana has been associated in the media with a breakaway party.

“Some local party members, the media, have asked her to deny that. She hasn’t been clear in that.

“So my advice really, on all of this, is for Luciana to just put this issue to bed.

“Say very clearly ‘no, I’m not supporting another party, I’m not jumping ship’ - and for local party members to sit down with Luciana and actually say, ‘How can we support you? How can we work together in the future?’ And then overcome the present difficulties.”

(Image: Reuters)

One-time leadership hopeful Chuka Umunna mocked the intervention, tweeting: “So a victim of outrageous racism in UKLabour must promise she will not walk because of that racism and then this can all go away.”

Tonight deputy Labour leader Tom Watson wrote to Labour's general secretary calling for Liverpool Wavertree CLP to be suspended.

He wrote: "The actions of her constituency are not only threating towards Luciana personally but are bringing our party into disrepute."

Ms Berger’s brave fight against anti-Semitism in Labour has seen her hammered with a torrent of abuse from online trolls.

She required a police escort at last year’s Labour conference after receiving death threats.

Responding to the row before the votes were withdrawn, Ms Berger had vowed to fight on for her constituents - and said she had been 'deeply disturbed' by how Mr Corbyn had approached the issue of antisemitism in the Labour party.

She told the Liverpool Echo: "I have made no secret that, as a Jewish woman representing a city with a Jewish community, I have been deeply disturbed by the lack of response from Jeremy Corbyn as party leader and many in the wider leadership of the party to the antisemitism that stains our party.

"I and my colleagues have pressed the party for months to take concrete action to tackle this serious issue.

"I joined colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday in a unanimous call to the party to be transparent about what it has and has not done to root out antisemitism in the party."