British Labour MP Diane Abbott has not been barred from standing in the UK general election, the party’s leader Keir Starmer has said.
Mr Starmer said no decision had been taken on whether she would be allowed to defend her seat.
Ms Abbott, who in 1987 became the first black woman elected to parliament, said she was “very dismayed” at suggestions she would be barred from standing.
She had the Labour whip suspended in April 2023 pending an investigation after she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice, but not racism.
The whip was restored yesterday, but Ms Abbott appeared to believe she had been barred from standing in Hackney North and Stoke Newington on 4 July.
“Although the whip has been restored, I am banned from standing as a Labour candidate,” she told the BBC.
But she later wrote on social media: “I am very dismayed that numerous reports suggest I have been barred as a candidate.”
Mr Starmer told reporters in Worcester “it’s not true” that Ms Abbott had been barred.
“No decision has been taken to bar Diane Abbott.
“The process that we were going through ended with the restoration of the whip the other day, so she’s a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party and no decision has been taken barring her.”
