Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to suspend four Labour MPs last night risks “rolling out the red carpet” for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, leading left-wing rebels have warned.
Ian Byrne, who was previously suspended after rebelling on scrapping the two-child benefit cap last summer, declared that Starmer’s “decisions don’t show strength”.
“They are damaging Labour’s support and risk rolling out the red carpet for Reform,” Byrne added.
It comes after the suspensions of Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff, which left Byrne saying he was “appalled”.
Ex-Shadow Minister Richard Burgon threw his support behind his colleagues who “alongside nearly 50 of us … were simply standing up for their disabled constituents and following their consciences”.
“Challenging policies that harm our communities, that damage Labour’s support and that make a Reform Government much more likely is a key role of Labour backbenchers,” he said.
“The Prime Minister should be listening to these voice, not punishing them.”
Jon Trickett also took to X to show “solidarity with the suspended four”, saying “to the millions of disabled people, their carers and relatives I say this ‘we fight on for justice'”.
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Diane Abbott REFUSES to apologise for ‘travellers and Jewish people’ remark – as she accuses Labour of ‘trying to boot her out’
Diane Abbott declared she has no regrets regarding comments on racism which ultimately led her to being suspended by the Labour Party.
She was suspended by the party in 2023 after a writing a letter to the Observer comparing racism experienced by people of colour with that seen by other groups.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Reflections programme that she did not look back on the incident with regret.
Abbott was reinstated to the party before the 2024 general election and said: “Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street (and) you don’t know.”
“I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism,” she said.
“I don’t know why people would say that.”
She apologised for any anguish her remarks caused which drew criticism from Jewish and Travellers groups.
Abbott is the longest-serving female MP in the parliament after entering in 1987 and she said she got a “bit weary” about people labelling her anti-semitic, adding she had “spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds”.
She said while she was “grateful” to be a Labour MP she believed leadership had been “trying to get me out”.
Conservative response to unemployment rising yet again
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown that unemployment has climbed to a four-year high of 4.7 per cent in the three months to May.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said the worst “is yet to come under the punishing Labour Government”.
“Unemployment going up for the ninth month in a row on Labour’s watch is a disgrace,” she said.
“It is the latest in a litany of dreadful economic news – coming off the back of stoked inflation and depressed growth stats. These are more than just statistics, each and every job loss is a devastating blow to hardworking families across the country.”
Whately said it was a “shock, but not a surprise”.
“(As) record taxes already biting, the employment rights bill looming and the prospect of even more painful tax rises to come in the autumn,” she said.
German Chancellor to be welcomed to the UK
German Chancellor Friedrich MerzREUTERS
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will welcome German Chancellor Friedrich Merz today with their pair to strengthen relations by reportedly signing a wide-ranging bilateral cooperation treaty.
It could include language on mutual defence – first announced in August 2024 – following talks between Starmer and then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The treaty would seek commitment to make it illegal to facilitate illegal migration to the UK from within Germany.
Law change is expected in Germany which will make it easier to clamp down on people smuggling gangs in the country.