A defiant Ken Livingstone has added fuel to the fire in Labour's civil war over accusations of anti-Semitism.

The former London mayor claimed that Labour could not suspend him for linking Hitler to Zionism, because he has been making the same claim for the last 30 years.

His announcement that he would fight his suspension piled more pressure on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, as members of his shadow cabinet called for Mr Livingstone to be permanently expelled.

The Labour leadership promised that it would get a grip on alleged anti-Semitism within the party.

But as the row escalated a campaign visit by Mr Corbyn to Wales was cancelled, reportedly at the request of the Welsh Labour leader.

The group Glasgow Friends of Israel also wrote to Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale asking for reassurances that members of her party would be suspended if they made anti-Semitic remarks.

A spokesman for Ms Dugdale said that Scottish Labour took a "zero tolerance" approach to anti-Semitism.

He added that the party's manifesto for next week's Holyrood's elections included a specific pledge to support education about the Holocaust.

Mr Livingstone infuriated Labour MPs on Thursday when he said that Hitler had supported Zionism "before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews".

He was unrepentant about his comments, asking "how can the truth be an offence?" and suggesting that critics within his own party were 'pro-Israel'.

He also said that he would show party officials a book by controversial American Marxist historian Lenni Brenner, which claims the Nazis colluded with early campaigners for a Jewish homeland.

"I suspect most of the pro-Israel Labour MPs have no idea about the history, they certainly don't teach about 1930s Zionist policy in Israeli schools ... almost everyone in the Jewish community grows up in complete ignorance of this," he said.

Earlier, former Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham had accused the party of being too slow to act over anti-Semitism.

Deputy leader Tom Watson also signalled that Labour could change it rules and procedures, including over candidate selection, in the wake of the row.

But he also said it had been hard to Mr Corbyn to take action against Mr Livingstone, his political ally for four decades.

Asked if he thought Mr Livingstone's comments were anti-Semitic, Mr Watson said: "I personally think that Ken Livingstone was straying into that territory.

"But they were certainly offensive and provocative.

"To link Hitler and Zionism in the way he did must have been done to create offence."

Labour’s National Executive Committee will now investigate.

Mr Corbyn has denied that there is a "crisis" within the Labour over anti-Semitism.

He has also faced criticism for his handling of the suspension of Bradford West MP Naz Shah.

She had the Labour whip withdrawn earlier this week over a Facebook post she shared calling for Israel to be "relocated" in the United States.

Mr Livingstone has said that Ms Shah's actions were "over the top but she's not anti-Semitic".

The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews criticised Mr Corbyn personally.

He highlighted the Labour leader's past praise for his "friends" in Hamas and Hezbollah.

Jonathan Arkush said: "I want Jeremy Corbyn finally to say that his own meetings with anti-Semites in the past, before he became leader, were inappropriate and should not be repeated."

The leader of Israel's Labour party Isaac Herzog said that recent events within Labour were a "red alert" as he called for action.