A LABOUR member who lodged complaints about activist Pete Gregson has told of how they have lost confidence in the party's ability to deal with anti-Semitism.

Gregson, from Edinburgh, was expelled from his trade union in January after saying he believed Israel 'exaggerated the Holocaust for political gain', and subsequently suspended from Labour.

However a member of Gregson's local labour party branch - Edinburgh Central - has told the Herald on Sunday they reported him to the party almost a year ago and are appalled that little has been done since.

It comes after we told last week how the activist had set up an anti-Zionist group called Labour Against Islamophobic Zionist Racism (LAZIR) following his expulsion from trade union GMB

Labour anti-Semitism row: Scots activist who claims 'Holocaust was exaggerated' formed anti-Zionist group while suspended

The member, who wishes to remain anonymous, said they had sent more than 100 pieces of evidence to party investigators in London over the past 11 months, and are aware at least one other member has also complained about Gregson.

They said: "I have wanted to speak about this for a while but I was scared about what might happen to me. When I saw the article on Sunday, I thought I had to come forward because the way Labour are responding to this is just appalling.

"The way the party have handled, or rather not handled, this gives the impression they just don’t care about it. A number of times it has tested my loyalty of staying in the party .

"Now I am certain that if they knew I had spoken to [the press] it would be me that would be expelled for breaking the terms of the complaint rather than the person who I’ve complained about.

"They would probably take me speaking more seriously than the complaint itself."

The member said they were first concerned about Gregson's views last year, when they noticed he had begun posting increasingly controversial messages and images on social media.

Gregson also went to Liverpool for the Labour conference last year, and set up a stall outside displaying a large banner with a picture of Jeremy Corbyn being attacked by Benjamin Netanyahu.

Police outside the conference asked Gregson to take down the banner, which he later wrote about on social media.

READ MORE: Row over Scottish Labour 'branch office' which is 'powerless' against anti-Semitism

The member said: " It took a while for me to even get an acknowledgement from Labour about the complaint. Any sensible organisation would confirm something as serious as that. I got an email a while after saying they’d be in touch within 10 days, but it took a couple of months for anyone to actually get in touch with me. When they did eventually, they just said they were looking at it.

"I’ve had to phone for an update every month, but they just say it is still under investigation. The original case worker who was dealing with it was one of the women in the Panorama programme, so when she left she got replaced by someone else but I wasn’t told who that was.

"I know for a fact at least one, maybe two others have complained about him as well.

"It is causing me a significant amount of stress, but I am that determined to make sure this is dealt with. He is taking up more of my free time than I would like him to, trying to build up and collect all this evidence, and they’ve done absolutely nothing by the looks of it. Nothing whatsoever."

Following the member's complaint, but before Gregson was suspended from Labour, he brought forward a motion at the Edinburgh Central branch ,meeting calling for the group to object to Labour's definition of anti-Semitism,

He also called for an "end to disciplinary actions against any affected member, shop steward, Labourist or employee accused of anti-Semitism under this definition".

The whistleblower said: "When he brought forward this motion I was even more angry, as I knew I had complained, and others had complained, and yet he was able to just bring forward this motion to the branch.

"Sadly it is situations like this which are causing Labour to lose face. "I fear the party as it was before the days of Jeremy Corbyn is pretty much lost for a generation now.

"I joined the party because I believed in their principles of wanting to help everyone and treat everybody equally. I joined to fight for things like that, not to fight other members. I don’t want to be part of an organisation that doesn’t take this seriously and is basically dominated by people who I believe are either anti-Semitic or borderline anti-Semitic themselves."

A Labour Party spokesman said: "The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it in all its forms.

"All complaints about antisemitism are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken. We cannot comment on individual cases."