'People are not more important than the team': Minister backs Labour rebels' suspension
Steve Reed, the environment secretary, told there are "ways of going about" concerns MPs may have with policies - and there are "ways of not going about that".
Politics latest:
Earlier this week Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff, Neil Duncan-Jordan and Rachael Maskell were suspended from Labour after voting against the government's welfare reforms. They will now sit as independent MPs.
Some as "appalling" and a "terrible look", but Mr Reed strongly supported the move.
The environment secretary said he understands they were suspended "not for any one particular issue, there was a pattern of behaviour".
"I think it is fair that if you're part of a team, you should be required to play the team game," he said.
"You can make your views known, but if you go too far outside, you're actually undermining the whole team. We can't allow that."
He added: "If people think they're more important than the team, they need to think again."
Read more:Labour will eliminate sewage spillages in a decadePM to address postcode lottery for only drug available for extreme pregnancy sickness
Veteran Labour MP this week, pending an investigation, after defending previous comments where she said people of colour have a different experience of racism than white people, such as Jewish, Irish and travellers.
It is the second time she has been suspended over the same issue, after she said the same thing last year ahead of the election, but was readmitted after apologising.
Mr Reed said he is "very disappointed" in Ms Abbott but her suspension is "out of my hands".
"I respect Diane, I've known Diane for many, many decades. I think it's a shame she did what she did," he added.
Commenting on the suspension, Ms Abbott told Sky News: "It's obvious this Labour leadership wants me out. My comments in the interview with James Naughtie were factually correct, as any fair-minded person would accept."
The clip of the interview was re-posted by Mr Leishman, one of the MPs suspended on Wednesday, who said: "Diane Abbott has fought against racism her entire life."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
City council wants public hearing to consider impeachment of Mayor Weddle
What began as an effort to formally charge London Mayor Randall Weddle with misconduct devolved into a heated and inconclusive City Council meeting — with the legality of the vote and whether the resolution will move forward remaining unclear. The resolution, presented during the council's Monday meeting, alleged multiple violations by Weddle. The discussed resolution proposed holding a public hearing on August 20 to consider removing the mayor from office for misconduct and willful neglect. Council Member Anthony Ortega moved to amend the regular meeting's agenda to include the proposal, which was read aloud by Acting City Clerk Ashley Taylor and ultimately approved. The charges against Weddle include the following allegations: — Hired and paid individuals for city positions not formally established or approved by the City Council, violating KRS 83A.0703 — Removed and appointed members of the London Housing Authority in violation of KRS 80.090 and KRS 80.030 — Directed Housing Authority staff to ignore laws and regulations, misused police resources and made inappropriate remarks during city business — Created a personal police protection detail using city resources — Falsely asserted city jurisdiction over FEMA contractors working outside city limits — Failed to meet city residency requirements — Used a personal media outlet to target a city employee — Refused to hold regular council meetings without the consent of a majority of council members — Altered and rejected city contracts without notifying the legislative body — Improperly released a recorded call between a crime victim and a city police officer. Council Member Stacy Benge moved to table the resolution, but it failed to receive a second. Council Member Kelly Greene then moved to vote, seconded by Justin Young. The motion passed with all voting in favor except Benge. However, the legality of the vote immediately came into question. Mayor Weddle argued that approval of the full council was required, not just a majority. City Council Attorney Conrad Cessna disagreed, stating that the higher threshold applied only at the hearing stage. City Attorney Larry Bryson maintained that a majority of the full council was required to adopt the resolution. As tensions escalated, TJ Roberts introduced himself as outside legal counsel retained by the council, but was met with loud boos from the crowd. The mayor, pointing out that no public motion had been made to hire Roberts, told him to sit down. Roberts obliged. Mayor Weddle then accused the council of skipping due process. 'Let's get this on the record — every accusation that you guys have made, you have a due diligence, according to KRS, to start an investigation exploratory subcommittee. How come that has not been done on any of this?' he asked. 'You have not done it — and you know why you've not done it.' Council Member Judd Weaver then moved to hire attorney Chris Wiest. That motion passed. 'Another attorney for the city folk to have to pay, but you [couldn't] care less about the roads,' Weddle commented. Later, Weaver made a motion for a point of clarification on whether the resolution had passed. Bryson recommended waiting for legal review before proceeding, and Roberts' second attempt to speak was again drowned out by booing from the crowd. Carmine G. Iaccarino, attorney for Mayor Weddle, then addressed the council, stating, 'I think that Mr. Bryson's recommendation is very well advised. In order to ensure due process, and that the Kentucky Revised Statutes are in fact followed, in such an important situation as the removal and nullification of the vote of the people of London.' Weaver asked Iaccarino whether the resolution required six votes. Iaccarino deferred, replying, 'My recommendation is to follow Mr. Bryson's recommendation.' Weaver then asked for the determination of the chair, Mayor Weddle, to which the mayor replied, 'I think we're taking the recommendation of the city attorney.' Weaver moved to appeal the decision, which was seconded by Greene, but no vote or discussion followed. Weddle would go on to adjourn the meeting himself, stating, 'The chair has the ability to adjourn a meeting. We're getting nowhere. The chair is adjourning the meeting. The meeting is adjourned.' With that, the mayor and council members dispersed, and the status of the resolution remained unresolved as of press time Tuesday. Should the public hearing move forward, discussion indicated that it would be a special meeting set for August 20 at 9 a.m. That meeting was confirmed Tuesday by Roberts and Cessna, though Cessna acknowledged there had been no further discussion of a legal review. Attempts to contact Bryson for confirmation were unsuccessful as of press time. In preliminary research, The Sentinel-Echo found no specific reference to scheduling a hearing but did find the following clause as part of KRS 83A.040 in regard to removal of city officials: 'Except in cities of the first class, any elected officer, in case of misconduct, incapacity, or willful neglect in the performance of the duties of his or her office, may be removed from office by a unanimous vote of the members of the legislative body exclusive of any member to be removed, who shall not vote in the deliberation of his or her removal. No elected officer shall be removed without having been given the right to a full public hearing. The officer, if removed, shall have the right to appeal to the Circuit Court of the county and the appeal shall be on the record. No officer so removed shall be eligible to fill the office vacated before the expiration of the term to which originally elected.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Rachel Reeves must raise taxes to fill £51bn black hole, warns think tank
Chancellor Rachel Reeves must raise taxes immediately in order to plug a fresh £50bn hole in public finances, a UK thinktank said on Wednesday. According to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), UK government finances have been hit by slowing economic growth, a weak jobs market and the cost of Labour's U-turns on welfare spending. NIESR recommended "a moderate but sustained increase in taxes" including reform of the council tax system to make up the shortfall. It also suggests that the government could raise revenue through changes to the scope of VAT, pensions allowances and prolonging the freeze in income tax thresholds, which is set to end in 2028. Reeves is now on course to miss her borrowing targets by £41.2bn, NIESR predicted in its report, facing an "impossible trilemma" of big tax hikes, spending cuts or a change to fiscal rules that she has said are non-negotiable. NIESR added that if she also wants to restore the £9.9bn of headroom maintained since last year's budget, she must raise taxes or cut spending by £51.1bn in the autumn budget statement. In its manifesto, Labour promised not to raise taxes such as income tax, VAT or national insurance on "working people". Read more: UK taxpayers 'subsidising' S&P 500, says LSEG boss NIESR nudged up its forecast for British economic growth for this year to 1.3% from its forecast of 1.2% in May. However, it cut its projections for all the following years up to 2030, largely due to the impact of US president Donald Trump's trade tariffs on the global economy. The forecasts are significantly weaker than those of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), whose projections underpin the government's tax and spending plans. NIESR expects 1% growth in 2028 compared with the OBR's 1.7%. Stephen Millard, NIESR's deputy director for macroeconomics, said the difference between those forecasts and NIESR's £41bn estimate of the shortfall probably lay largely in the think tank's lower forecasts for economic growth. It comes just a year after Rachel Reeves attacked the Conservative government for leaving an alleged £22bn black hole in the public finances. But shadow chancellor Mel Stride claimed the black hole was a result of Labour's 'economic mismanagement'. Stride said: 'Labour will always reach for the tax-rise lever because they don't understand the economy. Businesses are closing, unemployment is up, inflation has doubled and the economy is shrinking. And Labour are refusing to rule out more damaging tax rises on investment.' The news on Wednesday came as separate figures from HMRC showed almost 2.6 million people will be forced to pay tax on their savings this year, up by over 120,000 from 2024. The average saver who receives a bill will pay £2,300, according to analysis by stockbroker AJ Bell. Read more: Trending tickers: AMD, Novo Nordisk, Snap, Walt Disney, Super Micro and Glencore Will the Bank of England cut interest rates? How to reclaim overpaid pension taxError while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
CNN10 Special Edition The Role of the Monarchy, The Role of the Crown
Today on CNN10-- A full ten minutes on one fascinating topic: The difference between the British government and the Royal Family. The U.K. runs their country quite differently from the way we do things here in the U.S. And what roles do the King, the Queen and the Prince even play? It can get confusing, but we're here to break it all down.
