LABOUR HQ staff sabotaged the ability for the party’s London regional executive committee (REC) to debate a motion on Monday night that expressed full solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn.

An emergency motion from Unite members was tabled that wholly opposed Mr Corbyn’s suspension.

Mr Corbyn was suspended on Thursday for stating that the scale of anti-semitism within Labour had been exaggerated by the press and his political opponents.

After the regional executive voted to hear the motion, staff cancelled the co-hosting rights of London Labour chair Jim Kelly, preventing the meeting from voting on it.

Unite’s motion called on all Labour units and elected representatives, including the national executive committee, to “take the necessary steps to avert what threatens to become the biggest internal crisis facing Labour in decades.”

It adds that the Labour leadership should “reverse the divisive course of action” of suspending Mr Corbyn from the party.

In explaining the events, the REC Left tweeted: “[Mr Kelly] was challenged on the decision to accept the motion onto the agenda and a vote was taken where a clear majority of REC members voted to hear the motion. A Zoom poll was taken to count the votes.

“Once the REC then moved to hear the actual motion, the staff advised us they could not be present during the debate as it was not ‘competent business.’ The staff turned off their cameras and chose not to participate until the next item of business.

“While we debated the motion, [Mr Kelly’s] co-hosting rights were removed which meant a Zoom poll to take a vote could not be taken.

“The meeting had to stop while [Mr Kelly] phoned the staff and requested his co-hosting rights were reinstated. This request from the chair was refused.

“This action stopped the REC being able to carry out a democratic secret vote, and prevented the REC passing a motion with a clear statement on a matter of huge importance to the Labour Party.”

The group added that REC members who were in support of the motion were “horrified at this clear interference in the ability of the [REC] to operate democratically.”

It continued: “If this was a physical meeting we would have the ability to run our own vote as lay members. This was clear interference from staff who should be neutral in the democratic decision-making of the Labour Party.”