Voters say Diane Abbott should be barred from standing again

A majority of Labour supporters want Diane Abbott barred from standing for the party at the next election.

And one in three voters believe Labour still has a problem with antisemitism, despite Sir Keir Starmer’s efforts to demonstrate that he has rid the party of anti-Jewish views.

Ms Abbott, Labour 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 Labour candidate, but this would change if party leader Sir Keir chooses to restore the whip.

An exclusive Sunday Express poll reveals 53 percent 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 percent of those who backed Labour in the 2019 general election agreeing Ms Abbott should be barred from standing.

One Labour MP said Ms Abbott, 69, should be given a chance to redeem herself but insisted she had more to do.

Former whip Steve McCabe said: “I think Keir was absolutely right to suspend her and what she said was astonishing.”

“But everyone has a right to try to defend themselves and everyone has a right to try to make good when they have done wrong.”

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“I think most people would feel she hasn’t done enough to explain what happened or to apologise. So I think she needs to do more in that regard.”

It comes despite Sir Keir’s attempts to prove the party has moved on from the accusations of prejudice against Jews which dogged Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

The current leader has barred his predecessor from standing again for Labour, after Mr Corbyn claimed the problem was “dramatically overstated for political reasons”.

A majority of voters, 54 percent, said the Diane Abbott affair did not matter to them personally, suggesting it is unlikely to affect who they support at the next election.

The survey also found 51 percent of voters said they believed allegations that former Justice Secretary Dominic Raab was a bully as set out in a report by barrister Adam Tolley, a claim Mr Raab denies, but 51 percent said it did not impact them.

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