Theresa May is expected to launch an attack on Labour later today for failing to take tough enough action against Ken Livingstone.

In a speech to launch the Conservative Party’s local election campaign she will accuse Labour of letting the former Mayor of London “off the hook” and betraying the Jewish community.

A Labour disciplinary panel suspended Mr Livingstone for a further year rather than expelling him for bringing the party into disrepute over claims Hitler supported Zionism.

According to several media sources, Mrs May was expected to denounce “a Labour Party which just this week revealed the depths to which it has now sunk, betraying the Jewish community in our country by letting Ken Livingstone off the hook.

"It could not be clearer that the Labour Party is now a long way away from the common, centre ground of British politics today."

Meanwhile, the row over the disciplinary panel’s decision has escalated within Labour with more than 100 of the party’s MPs signing a statement expressing dissatisfaction with the outcome.

They said: “This week the institutions of the Labour Party have betrayed our values. We stand united in making it clear that we will not allow our party to be a home for antisemitism and Holocaust revisionism. We stand with the Jewish community and British society against this insidious racism.”

Leading figures in Labour Friends of Israel have called for Mr Livingstone be expelled.

While Mr Livingstone has so far remained unrepentant, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has criticised him for continuing to make “offensive” remarks.

A strongly-worded editorial in the Guardian condemned the party, saying “Labour values Mr Livingstone’s membership over the fight against antisemitism. ‘Zero tolerance’ was a lie”.