Diane Abbott says she has no regrets over comments that saw Labour suspend her
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP was suspended by the Labour Party in 2023 after a writing a letter to the Observer comparing racism experienced by people of colour with that seen by other groups.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Reflections programme, she said she did not look back on the incident with regret.
Ms Abbott, who was readmitted to the party before the 2024 general election, 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, 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.
'I don't know why people would say that.'
She apologised for any anguished caused by the remarks which drew criticism from Jewish and Travellers groups.
The longest-serving female MP in the Commons, who entered Parliament in 1987, said she got a 'bit weary' about people labelling her antisemetic and said she had 'spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds'.
She said she was 'grateful' to be a Labour MP but was sure the party leadership had been 'trying to get me out'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
11 minutes ago
- BBC News
Brackley housing estate development to go to planning inspector
A decision to build 700 homes on the outskirts of a market town will be made by the Planning Inspectorate following opposition from a local council. The plans for the homes, on 86 acres of greenfield in Brackley, Northamptonshire, were submitted by developers Ashfield Land and Vulpes Land. Ashfield Land said the housing estate would include public open spaces, allotments, an extension of Brackley Rugby Club, and access from Halse Road and the A422 Brackley Northamptonshire Council is opposed to the application. Councillors have not been able to agree the level of financial contributions the developer should make, known as a Section 106 agreement. The decision was referred to the Planning Inspectorate after the authority failed to issue a decision on the plans for four years, the Local Democracy Reporting Service council received more than 100 letters opposing the plans. Local people cited a lack of dentists, doctors and schools in the area, a loss of farmland and biodiversity and increased traffic. 'Enough is enough' Farthinghoe Parish Council, the Wildlife Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England also objected. Conservative councillor Fiona Baker said adding more houses would be "detrimental to the quality of life of the residents already in the town"."There's a mention of allotments and a rugby pitch. This is in no way compensation for the increase of a minimum of 1,400 people joining the area," she in the morning was already "like a mass exodus from the town"."I ask you to refuse this application, not because it's 'not in my backyard', but because enough is enough," she said they would work with the developers to secure appropriate Section 106 conditions, ahead of the appeal, due at the end of October. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Miliband bets on nuclear fusion in bid to lead clean power race
Ed Miliband has taken a bet on nuclear fusion one day powering Britain by making it easier for developers to build new reactors with minimal planning restrictions. Fusion plants are to be included in the UK's national infrastructure planning system, meaning they can be built in any part of Britain without needing consent from local authorities and with little opportunity for local people to object. Mr Miliband said the aim was to ensure fusion, if it ever works, could rapidly become part of the UK energy system. The Energy Secretary predicted that the first generators could be under construction within a decade and said the technology would help the UK 'to become a clean energy superpower'. Mr Miliband said: 'These changes would ensure fusion projects get built quicker. We are giving developers the clarity they need to build the fusion industry in Britain, creating highly skilled jobs and driving growth.' Fusion is the process that powers the sun and works by using extremely high temperatures and pressures to force hydrogen atoms to fuse, creating helium and releasing vast amounts of energy. The process can be harnessed to build weapons such as the hydrogen bomb, but controlling it to produce energy has proved impossible, despite seven decades of research. This is because fusion plasmas are 15 times hotter than the sun and would melt all known materials so they have to be contained by magnetic fields. The challenge has been to design reactors and magnetic containment systems that can hold such plasmas for long periods while releasing the heat they generate to drive turbines. The advent of AI combined with a plethora of new designs for fusion reactors is driving hopes that such challenges can now be solved. The UK already has some of the world's leading fusion science and engineering teams and successive governments have pledged to support them with £2.5bn of investment. That money is now funding the construction of a prototype fusion power plant at West Burton in Nottinghamshire. Many private companies are also looking at alternative pathways to achieving fusion. Kerry Turner, minister for climate, said fusion did not need to be so tightly regulated as existing nuclear power stations because the process produced very little radioactive waste. She said: 'The UK aims to build a prototype fusion power plant in the UK by 2040. Private fusion companies in the UK and overseas are also quickly developing demonstrator fusion facilities. 'To deliver these facilities, sites for fusion energy facilities will need to be identified and construction started this decade.' The move was welcomed by those leading the UK's nascent fusion industry. Tim Bestwick, chief executive of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), said: 'Fusion promises to be a safe, sustainable part of the world's future energy supply and the UK has an opportunity to become a global hub for fusion technology. 'These new fusion-specific planning rules will help provide certainty about investing in UK fusion developments.' A similar system is already in place for wind farms, solar farms and other controversial energy developments.
BBC News
11 minutes ago
- BBC News
Plymouth rejects directly-elected mayor in referendum
People in Plymouth have rejected a directly-elected city mayor model in a of the campaign against the introduction of a city mayor said the people of Plymouth "knew better" and the city was "on the up", as Plymouth Council said turnout was 19.1%.Even if there had been a vote for a city mayor, the government had previously stepped in to postpone any election until May 2027 and said it would scrap the introduction of any new directly-elected city mayors before Forbes, the millionaire Australian businessman who funded the campaign for a mayor, said "democracy has been trampled on" and that many people in Plymouth thought the referendum had been cancelled. Under a directly-elected mayor system the council would have been run by the mayor, rather than the current system where the council is run by the leader, an elected councillor chosen by other referendum was triggered by a petition with more than 10,000 signatures calling for change. Nearly 200,000 people were eligible to vote and Plymouth City Council said the turnout was 19.11%.Charlotte Holloway, a Labour councillor and one of the co-organisers of the Plymouth Knows Better campaign against a directly-elected mayor, said: "Plymouth really does know better."People saw straight through this failed, costly experiment and they made that known at the ballot box."This referendum was always a waste of time and public money. Voter turnout was one of the lowest Plymouth has ever seen - not because people didn't care, but because they knew it was pointless." 'Frustration' Forbes, who is married to former Strictly Come Dancing judge Darcey Bussell, said: "Democracy was absolutely trampled on - let's make that absolutely clear."When you have intervention and frustration by Westminster as aggressive as it was - a lot of Plymothians thought this was cancelled."The businessman said his campaign had "come very close" and he was proud of what he described as "a grassroots initiative". The city mayor referendum in Plymouth was completely separate from the moves towards introducing more strategic mayors around the country, like those that exist in Greater Manchester and the West part of its local government reorganisation the government is abolishing district and county councils in favour of unitary unitary authorities are then expected to work together as strategic authorities with directly-elected mayors who would have increased powers in areas such as planning and in Devon said at first they would like to create a strategic authority with Cornwall but councillors in Cornwall rejected that possibility.
