Labour has restored the whip to an MP it suspended over comments he made at a pro-Palestinian rally in October.

Andy McDonald was suspended for remarks the party called “deeply offensive”.

But the Middlesbrough MP will now again be able to sit as a Labour MP in the Commons, rather than as an independent.

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It comes as calls grow among Diane Abbott supporters for her to receive the whip back after she was denied the chance to speak in the Commons about comments a Tory donor reportedly made about her.

A Labour spokesperson said the whip had been restored to Mr McDonald after its investigation found “he had not engaged in conduct that was against the party’s rulebook”.

However, it said he had been “reminded” about the “importance of elected representatives being mindful, not only of what they say in public, but how their words may be interpreted, especially in reference to controversial or emotive issues”.

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Mr McDonald said it was “never my intention” to use language that would cause distress and that he “bitterly regret(s)” the “pain and hurt caused”.

“Accordingly, I will not use that phrasing again,” his statement said.

“I will continue to denounce the abominations of antisemitism and Islamophobia wherever they raise their ugly heads. These are key reasons why I joined the Labour Party 45 years ago,” he added.

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Mr McDonald was suspended after attending a pro-Palestinian rally last year at which he said: “We won’t rest until we have justice.

“Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty.”

He went on to shout “free Palestine”.

Downing Street said at the time it was “not acceptable” to use the phrase “from the river to the sea” – which refers to the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea – because it was “deeply offensive” to many.

Many pro-Israel supporters see it as a call for the eradication of the Israeli state, although pro-Palestinian campaigners contest this.

Mr McDonald had been among a number of Labour MPs and candidates cast out due to comments about the Israel-Hamas war.

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Kate Osamor, MP for Edmonton, had the whip withdrawn in January after she appeared to say the war should be remembered as genocide on Holocaust Memorial Day. She later apologised.

Labour also dropped Rochdale by-election candidate, Azhar Ali, after he allegedly suggested Israel deliberately allowed the Hamas attack to give it the “green light” to invade Gaza, as well as blaming “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for Mr McDonald’s suspension.

On Wednesday, Ms Abbott reposted a claim on X that she had asked Sir Keir Starmer for the whip to be restored in a conversation after PMQs.

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP was suspended after suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people did not face racism – something she later apologised for.

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