Category Archives: Diane Abbott

Abbott denies Starmer privately defied Corbyn over antisemitism

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Corbyn ally says suggestions Starmer challenged handling of issue while in shadow cabinet are ‘nonsense’

A senior ally of Jeremy Corbyn has dismissed as “nonsense” suggestions Keir Starmer privately fought against the former leader’s handling of antisemitism while in his shadow cabinet.

Diane Abbott, who at the time was shadow home secretary, disputed the defence levied by Starmer supporters that he had spoken up about the issue at the time, given the criticism he has faced for serving in Corbyn’s top team as shadow Brexit secretary.

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MPs and campaigners alarmed at UK’s ‘discriminatory’ crime reduction plans

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Government’s proposals include more frequent stop and search and making community service street cleaners ‘more visible’

MPs and campaigners have sounded alarm at a series of proposals in the government crime reduction plan, including more frequent stop and search, a trial of “alcohol tags” and criminals undertaking “visible” community service cleaning streets.

Liberty said the permanent relaxation of search powers would “compound discrimination in Britain and divide communities” and the former shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, said it was “alarming and counter-productive.”

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UK to close door to non-English speakers and unskilled workers

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Government plans to take ‘full control’ of borders a disaster for economy and jobs, say industry leaders and Labour

Britain is to close its borders to unskilled workers and those who can’t speak English as part of a fundamental overhaul of immigration laws that will end the era of cheap EU labour in factories, warehouses, hotels and restaurants.

Unveiling its Australian-style points system on Wednesday, the government will say it is grasping a unique opportunity to take “full control” of British borders “for the first time in decades” and eliminate the “distortion” caused by EU freedom of movement.

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Brexit free-movement cutoff plans worse than Windrush, says Abbott

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Senior Labour MP says no-deal Brexit proposal would create chaos for EU citizens in UK

Ending the free movement of people with a no-deal Brexit on 31 October would cause chaos and confusion for EU citizens on a scale that would make the Windrush scandal look like a minor blip, Diane Abbott has said.

The shadow home secretary said Boris Johnson’s policies were taking the country “towards a catastrophe” as 2 million EU citizens resident in Britain had not yet registered for settled status, having been told the deadline was December 2020.

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Corbyn backs referendum on Brexit deal after EU election exodus

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To break parliamentary deadlock, deal has to be put to public vote, Labour leader says

Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to support a second referendum on any Brexit deal after the Labour leadership came under overwhelming pressure to halt the exodus of its remain voters who backed pro-EU parties at the European elections.

The Labour leader said he was “listening very carefully” to both sides of the debate after the party fell behind the Liberal Democrats and also lost ground to the Greens.

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Give priority to Julian Assange rape claim, home secretary urged

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Letters to Sajid Javid and Diane Abbott call for attention to focus on any Swedish case

Political pressure is mounting on Sajid Javid to prioritise action that would allow Julian Assange to be extradited to Sweden, amid concerns that US charges relating to Wikileaks’ activities risked overshadowing longstanding allegations of rape.

More than 70 MPs and peers have written to Javid and the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, urging them to focus attention on the earlier Swedish investigations that Assange would face should the case be resumed at the alleged victim’s request.

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Shamima Begum baby death ‘a stain on conscience of UK government’

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Sajid Javid accused of appeasing populists by ordering UK citizenship to be revoked

The home secretary, Sajid Javid, has come under fire for his decision to revoke the British citizenship of Shamima Begum, whose baby son has died in a Syrian refugee camp.

Begum, 19, left the UK in 2015 with two school friends to join Islamic State in Syria and said last month she wanted to return home. But Javid insisted he would do all in his power to prevent her coming back and ordered her citizenship to be revoked.

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