The outlet, founded in 2015 at the height of support for the then Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said in a social media post it would be closing “for the foreseeable future”.

In a statement, the Canary said: “After 11 years, we take this action with deep sadness and regret. The extent of the lies, defamation, and harassment by ex-staff – coupled with the constant attacks by the state and those who’d see us destroyed – has become too much.”

However, some journalists at the Canary have said they believed the outlet’s banking issues had been used to distract from wider financial mismanagement. They claim that additional funding received over the summer – believed to be more than £2m – had been squandered on projects including a short-lived newspaper and the purchase of other websites.