Frontrunner Labour bars race row MP from UK election run

Diane Abbott says Labour will not allow her to run in July election despite party reinstatement.

Diane Abbot said she has been barred from standing as a candidate for the Labour Party in Britain’s upcoming general election.

Britain’s first Black female lawmaker told the BBC on Wednesday that the party will not allow her to stand in the July 4 election, despite lifting her suspension, which was enacted last year due to her comments on racism.

Labour leader Keir Starmer later denied that the party had barred Abbott.  no final decision on the issue has been reached. Asked about the matter while campaigning in western England, Starmer insisted “that’s not true”.

“No decision has been taken to bar Diane Abbott,” he said.

Abbott, who was first elected to parliament for Labour in 1987, had informed Britain’s public broadcaster by text message that she would not be allowed to stand. “Although the whip has been restored, I am banned from standing as a Labour candidate,” she said.