Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has insisted anyone who commits an act of antisemitism in the party should lose their membership or be expelled.

Speaking for the first time since the airing of a BBC Panorama documentary into the issue, Mr Corbyn said every complaint was investigated but added it was “less than 0.1%” of the party’s membership that was involved in any accusation.

“Anyone in my party or any other party that commits any act of antisemitism is, I believe, meriting withdrawal of their membership or expulsion from the party, and that we have done,” the Labour leader said.

He maintained there were “many many inaccuracies” in the BBC programme, adding that it had “adopted a pre-determined position on its own website before it was broadcast”.

Other senior party figures, including deputy leader Tom Watson have criticised Labour’s response, saying the allegations were a “watershed moment”.

Some former officials broke non-disclosure agreements (NDA) to tell the programme they were undermined in their efforts to tackle antisemitism in the party – something Labour has denied.

Also speaking on Saturday, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he hoped the party would not take legal action against the former staffers for breaking their “gagging orders”.

“I’m not a fan of NDAs, I understand why they exist… but unless there’s a breach of data that puts member’s information at risk, I don’t believe they should be used,” he said.

Separately, Labour shadow minister Laura Pidcock was filmed criticising a Sky News correspondent for asking questions about the party’s antisemitism crisis.

Speaking after a pre-recorded interview at the Durham Miner’s Gala, Ms Pidcock said the questioning was “unfair”.

Her adviser then stepped in to say the interview was supposed to be on the Gala event, and criticised the limited time the correspondent spent on that subject.

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