Communist posters at Abbott poll station

THE police were called to a polling station at a primary school in Diane Abbott’s constituency in north London yesterday after posters made by children showing the hammer and sickle were displayed in a window.

The posters were accompanied by a sheet of paper bearing the message: “We can’t tell you which way to vote, but the kids aren’t happy. They want CHANGE! Vote with your heart, not by what the papers tell you.”

It is against electoral rules to display partisan material at a polling station, to avoid people being pressured into voting a certain way.

The returning officer was asked to cover the posters and voting continued, but the Conservative candidate, Amy Gray, said: “It looks like some of Hackney’s teachers need a history lesson: communism was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions and should be deplored, not celebrated.”

Ms Abbott, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, was hoping to retain her seat after she was asked to stand aside as the shadow home secretary earlier this week.

A Labour spokesman confirmed ill health was behind the move, although Ms Abbott was seen out canvassing yesterday as the polls opened.