Christine Shawcroft, the Labour official at the centre of an anti-Semitism row, has "resigned with immediate effect" from the party's ruling body.

Ms Shawcroft was forced to stand down from her position on Labour's disputes panel on Wednesday, after she sent an email calling for a council candidate accused of Holocaust denial to have his suspension lifted.

Ms Shawcroft apologised for the email, saying she was "wrong and misguided" to have called for Alan Bull's reinstatement, and sent it "before being aware of the full information about this case" and having "not been shown the image of his abhorrent Facebook post".

Mr Bull had been due to stand in the May local elections in Peterborough, but is accused of sharing an article on Facebook which claimed the Holocaust was a "hoax". He said he reposted the article for the purpose of debate and did not agree with it.

In a statement released on Saturday, Ms Shawcroft confirmed she was standing down from the NEC "with immediate effect".

She continued: "It has been a privilege to serve on the Labour Party national executive committee for the last 19 years, and I was standing down in September in any event...

"It is clear that my continued membership of the NEC has become a distraction for the Party and an excuse for endless intrusive media harassment of myself, my family and friends."

On Friday, Labour MPs and peers sent a letter to Jeremy Corbyn urging him to suspend Ms Shawcroft.

The letter came as Mr Corbyn faces increasing pressure to tackle anti-Semitism.

The Labour anti-Semitism row is longstanding, but surfaced again last week after a 2012 Facebook comment Mr Corbyn made emerged in which he offered a show of support for Mear One, the painter of an alleged anti-Semitic mural that was about to be painted over.