Rudy Giuliani has been suspended from practising law in New York because he made false statements while trying to overturn the US presidential election in favour of Donald Trump.

The decision to prevent Mr Giuliani from working as a lawyer was made by an attorney disciplinary panel in the state.

However, a former federal prosecutor said the suspension will likely stop the former New York City mayor from working as a lawyer in other regions as well.

The panel said there was “uncontroverted evidence” that Mr Giuliani made false statements to the courts, public and politicians when he claimed the election was stolen through fraud.

In its motion to suspend the licence, the committee said: “This country is being torn apart by continued attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election and of our current president, Joseph R Biden.

“The hallmark of our democracy is predicated on free and fair elections. False statements intended to foment a loss of confidence in our elections and resulting loss of confidence in government generally damage the proper functioning of a free society.”

Mr Giuliani worked as a lawyer for Mr Trump, and represented him in numerous court hearings as the Republican side sought to overturn Mr Biden’s election victory.

The 77-year-old tried to claim a freedom of speech defence for his false claims, and said he did not knowingly make misleading statements, but this was discounted by the panel.

They said Mr Giuliani failed to “provide a scintilla of evidence for any of the varying and wildly inconsistent numbers of dead people he factually represented voted in Philadelphia during the 2020 presidential election”.

David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, said Mr Giuliani would have to tell other states about the suspension, which “in all likelihood will cause them to say, ‘You won’t be able to practice here'”.

As well as representing Mr Trump in court, Mr Giuliani also gave numerous press conferences, including one at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia on the day Mr Biden was called as the winner.

During this, Mr Giuliani claimed there was a vast conspiracy by Democrats that would be overturned.

The Trump campaign’s attempts to overturn the election result culminated in the 6 January riots on Capitol Hill.

Mr Giuliani is separately under investigation for his interactions with Ukrainian figures while trying to get the country to launch an investigation into one of Mr Biden’s sons.

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