Labour voters call for Abbott election ban
A MAJORITY of Labour supporters want Diane Abbott barred from standing at the next election.
And one in three voters believe the party still has a problem with anti-semitism, despite Sir Keir Starmer’s efforts to banish anti-jewish views.
Ms Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, was stripped of the Labour whip after writing a letter claiming that Jews, Irish people and travellers suffered “prejudice” similar to people with red hair but were not subject to racism.
She has apologised and said the letter was a draft that was sent by mistake.
It means she is not currently eligible to be a candidate for the party.
A Redfield &Wilton poll reveals 53 per cent of voters say Ms Abbott should not be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate again.
The view is shared by people of all political persuasions, with 52 per cent of those who backed Labour in the 2019 election agreeing Ms Abbott should be barred.
One Labour MP said the 49-year-old should be given a chance to redeem herself but insisted she had more to do.
Former whip Steve Mccabe, who represents Birmingham Selly Oak said: “Everyone has a right to try to defend themselves and to try to make good when they have done wrong.”
The survey found 34 per cent of voters continue to believe Labour has a problem with anti-semitism, with 28 per cent disagreeing.
But 54 per cent of those polled said that the Diane Abbott affair did not matter to them personally.
And 51 per cent of voters said they believed the allegations that former Justice Secretary Dominic Raab was a bully, as set out in a report by barrister Adam Tolley, a claim Mr Raab has denied.