Labour withdraws support for Rochdale candidate Azhar Ali after Israel comments

The UK Labour Party has withdrawn its support for Azhar Ali, a candidate in the by-election for Rochdale, a town in the greater Manchester area.

"Following new information about further comments made by Azhar Ali coming to light today, the Labour party has withdrawn its support for Azhar Ali as our candidate in the Rochdale by-election," a Labour spokesperson said, as reported by Guardian political correspondent Eleni Courea.

Ali is alleged to have said at a Labour meeting that Israel "allowed" the Hamas-led attack to take place on 7 October.

While it is too late to replace Ali from the ballot, if he wins he would serve as an independent MP, rather than being affiliated with Labour.