Abbott should be allowed to contest: Anas Sarwar

SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said Diane Abbott should be allowed to contest the election and agrees with Angela Rayner on the issue.

His comment came amid a divide among senior Labour leaders over Abbott's candidature and puts pressure on Sir Keir Starmer.

Sarwar told BBC that Abbott was “a trailblazer” with “a strong history in the Labour Party”.

He said the disciplinary investigation against her has concluded and the whip has been restored. It is for the national executive committee (NEC) to decide.

Asked if she should be allowed to run as a candidate, he said he “agrees with Angela Rayner”.

The deputy Labour leader had told the Guardian that Abbott has been unfairly treated by some Labour colleagues and she should be allowed to contest the election as the party whip has now been restored.

Abbott was earlier suspended from the party over an anti-semitism row. She used to represent the London seat of Hackney North and Stoke Newington.

Earlier London mayor Sadiq Khan, the shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, and the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, have also expressed uneasiness with the party’s treatment of Britain’s first black female MP.

But the shadow science secretary, Peter Kyle, defended the party's investigation into Abbott's remarks, which he termed as 'dignified'.

He told Times Radio that the NEC will be making sure that "everybody who stands for us meets the high standards that Keir Starmer has set for the Labour party.”

Starmer has refused to be drawn into this issue and told BBC that the NEC will decide in due course.

The committee is meeting next week to finalise Labour’s full list of parliamentary candidates.

The Labour leader is facing mounting accusations of “purging” the left-leaning leaders in the party.

Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen who was prevented from running in Chingford and Woodford Green has accused the party of racism, Islamophobia, and bullying.