JEREMY CORBYN had his suspension lifted by a panel of Labour’s NEC as the Morning Star went to press last night.

The decision came following left advances in recent NEC elections. Details had not been released by our deadline.

The Islington North MP was suspended from the party after 54 years of membership and nearly five years as Labour leader.

He had the whip withdrawn last month over his response to an Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report on Labour handling of anti-semitism complaints.

Following the report’s publication, Mr Corbyn said that “the scale of the problem [of anti-semitism in the Labour Party] was dramatically overstated for political reasons.”

In a post on Facebook today, Mr Corbyn said that the original statement had not intended to “belittle concerns” about anti-semitism.

“I regret the pain that this issue has caused the Jewish community and wish to do nothing that would exacerbate or prolong it.

“To be clear, concerns about anti-semitism are neither ‘exaggerated’ nor ‘overstated.’ The point I wished to make was that the vast majority of Labour Party members were and remain committed anti-racists deeply opposed to anti-semitism.”

His suspension came after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that people who believed it was “exaggerated, or a factional attack” were “part of the problem” and “should be nowhere near the Labour Party either.”

Despite claiming to accept the report in full, the Labour leadership has not commented on its finding that in the majority of sample cases it considered the respondent – that is, the person accused of anti-semitism – had been treated unfairly, nor indicated that it intends to apologise to those mistreated by its disciplinary processes.

Mr Corbyn said he supported the current leadership’s acceptance of the EHRC report in full.

MPs and activists have campaigned for him to be reinstated including through online rallies, while Jewish members of his Islington North constituency wrote an open letter in his defence.

Mr Corbyn wrote: “I’m grateful to the many thousands of Labour party members, trade unionists and supporters, in Britain and around the world, who have offered their solidarity.”

Board of Deputies of British Jews president Marie van der Zyl called on Labour to reject Mr Corbyn’s “pathetic non-apology.”