LEEDS BECKETT University denied yesterday that it used Prevent anti-terrorism legislation to ban former Labour MP Dave Nellist from its campus.

Mr Nellist, now a Socialist Party member, claimed that university bosses had used “vetting powers” to reject his application to speak at the university.

He was invited to address a meeting at the students’ union on Tuesday night about the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.

The meeting went ahead but had to be held at an off-campus venue.

Mr Nellist said it was proof that Home Secretary Theresa May had extended Prevent to cover “wider sections of public institutions.”

He argued: “Universities should be defending free debate and discussion, not siding with the government’s censorship.”

But Leeds Beckett was adamant that it had not banned Mr Nellist from its campus, saying it had not received a request for him to speak.

The students’ union requires an “external speakers application” to be completed 10 days before any event, which is then considered by the university’s registrar.

No application was ever submitted, according to the university.

A spokesman told the Star: “We haven’t refused any speakers on campus for years. In fact, I don’t actually know the last time we did.

“Universities pride themselves as places for freedom of speech, so to suggest that we used Prevent legislation is a little bit far-fetched.”

However, the Socialist Party insisted that Leeds Beckett had shifted the goalposts on applications.

It said the university had refused an application from Bakers Food & Allied Workers Union national president Ian Hodson to speak because it had not received 10 days’ notice, after originally saying it needed seven.