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Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent’s Race Correspondent Nadine WhiteSign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race ReportAs hundreds gathered outside Hackney Town Hall in east London, cries of “we stand with Diane” rang out. Among the protesters – from children to the elderly – was a red banner pledging “solidarity” with Diane Abbott, while a sign declared: “Hands off our MP.”They had gathered on Wednesday barely 24 hours after reports that Ms Abbott, Britain’s first Black female MP, was to be banned from standing for Labour after representing the party for 37 years – derailing Sir Keir Starmer’s first week of his election campaign and deepening a rift in the party.The news sparked calls for a demonstration online, with social media users sharing the e-flyer and others posting the #WeStandWithDiane hashtag of X/Twitter, signifying a groundswell of support.“You have always stood with me in good times and bad and I will always stand with you,” the veteran MP told the crowd, sparking speculation that – like her ally Jeremy Corbyn – she may stand as an independent candidate. “I promise you that as long as it is possible, I will be the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.”The strength of feeling in Hackney has been echoed elsewhere, with dozens of prominent Black Britons signing an open letter – seen by The Independent – warning that the Labour party’s treatment of the former shadow home secretary risked alienating Black voters.Signatories include comedian Lenny Henry, actor David Harewood, singer Heather Small, professor Gary Younge, broadcaster Afua Hirsch, director Misan Harriman, novelist Jackie Kay, author Yomi Adegoke, writer Reni Eddo-Lodge, poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, charity founder Ngozi Fulani and more.The letter criticised the ”unfairness” of the “vindictive” treatment, adding: “It is all the more upsetting given that Black communities have been among Labour’s most loyal supporters.”That loyalty, they said, “has never been unconditional” – and could be ruined beyond repair.Diane Abbott and then-shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer at 2019 rally More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNigel Farage and Richard Tice took aim at barber shops and candy stores at Reform UK’s immigration policy launch. Speaking at a press conference in central London on Thursday, the Reform UK leader Mr Tice suggested some cash-only barber shops on UK high streets were “fronts for money laundering and drug money”. He was speaking as his party proposed a multi-billion pound tax on businesses employing overseas workers.“You can see high streets with five, six, seven barber shops in them, thousands of new barber shops,” Mr Farage said while on stage with Mr Tice. They were then asked by a reporter what accusation they were making.Mr Tice added: “I’ll tell you what the accusation is actually, and I know it’s true, because you go to towns and people are saying shop after shop after shop. “I mean, I don’t know, maybe it was Covid, maybe our hair is growing faster. “Seriously, how come lots of these new barber shops have got no customers in them? How come they all want cash only? “These are fronts for money laundering and drug money, and someone has to talk about it and someone has to have the courage to say that the authorities they’re either incompetent and don’t know about it.”Nigel Farage and Richard Tice took aim at barber shops during the launch of Reform UK’s immigration policy More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak’s controversial plan to reintroduce National Service for school leavers has hit more criticisms after it was revealed it was out of tune with some of Britain’s greatest cultural successes, Labour has claimed.It has emerged that both The Beatles and Rolling Stones, who transformed music around the world in the 1960s, probably would never have started up if Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Mick Jagger and others had been forced to National Service.The revelation has raised questions about whether Mr Sunak’s plans could hurt the UK’s future young music stars’ opportunities.In 2022, Sir Paul McCartney said: “We were the generation that grew up fully expecting to go in the National Service. And then the second we qualified, it was as if God came down…and said, ‘You don’t have to go in.’ Without that, there wouldn’t have been ‘The Beatles’.Rishi Sunak – who told Sky News in November 2022 that The Beatles were his favourite band – announced on Saturday that he wants to require every young person in Britain to enlist in the Army for a full year as soon as they turn 18, or spend one weekend a month until age 19 completing compulsory community service activities in their local areas.The Beatles may never have got together if they had to do National Service (PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe row engulfing Labour over the future Diane Abbott and a purge of leftwingers in the party has not made a dent in popular support according to the latest weekly tracker poll.The survey by Techne UK for The Independent sees Labour still on 45 percent with a huge 24 point lead over the Tories. There is some comfort though for the beleaguered Rishi Sunak who sees his party recover two points from last week going up from 19 percent to 21 percent.In a further boost for the Tories, Reform UK’s vote has falled by two points from 14 percent to 12 percent in a week. this follows Mr Sunak announcing his plans to reintroduce National Service for 18-year-old school leavers, although pollsters believe this will have made little difference in voting intentions.But overall the poll of 1,630 voters is grim reading for the Conservatives who are still facing a massive defeat. And the continued strong showing for Labour was reflected in former Tory MP Mark Logan’s defection to Sir Keir Starmer’s party tonight.If this were the result of the general election on 4 July then Electoral Calculus predicts that the Tories would be reduced to a shocking 46 seats, less than a third of their all time worst result of 156 in 1906. Labour would have a massive 374 majority.Mark Logan has quit the Tories and plans to join the Labour party (UK Parliament/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Slovenia’s government on Thursday endorsed a motion to recognize a Palestinian state and asked the parliament to do the same.Prime Minister Robert Golob said that his government sent the recognition proposal to parliament, which could convene as early as next week.“All the world should act in the direction of peace,” Golob said after the government session. “The way to achieve peace is a two-state solution.”“The decision is not directed against anyone, not even Israel, but it is a message of peace,” he added as the Palestinian flag was displayed on the government headquarters in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital.Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he hoped the Slovenian parliament would reject the government decision.“The Slovenian government’s decision to recommend that the Slovenian Parliament recognize a Palestinian state rewards Hamas for murder, rape, mutilation of bodies, beheading of babies, and strengthens the Iranian axis of evil while damaging the close friendship between the Slovenian and Israeli people,” he said.Parliamentary approval is necessary for the move to take effect. Golob’s ruling liberal coalition has a comfortable majority in the 90-member assembly and the vote should be a formality. The decision by Slovenia’s government comes just two days after Spain, Norway and Ireland recognized a Palestinian state, a move that was condemned by Israel. With its move, Slovenia is set to become the 10th member of the 27-nation European Union to officially recognize a Palestinian state. Norway isn’t an EU member, but its foreign policy is usually aligned with the bloc.Slovenia first began the recognition process in early May, but said it would wait until the situation in the ongoing Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza improved.Golob said this week that he was expediting the process in reaction to Israel’s latest attacks on Rafah, which have caused more than 1 million Palestinians to flee. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state — more than two-thirds of the United Nations.The move to recognize a Palestinian state has caused relations between the EU and Israel to nosedive. Spain and Ireland are pushing for the EU to take measures against Israel for its continued attacks on Rafah in southern Gaza.Israel launched the assault following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack in which militants stormed across the Gaza border into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage. Israel’s air and land attacks have since killed 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak’s allies have been accused of “operating a chumocracy” in ”parachuting” special advisers and people close to the inner circle around the prime minister for winnable seats in the general election.David Goss, the prime minister’s deputy political secretary, became the latest high profile figure from Downing Street to be selected for a winnable seat in Wellingborough and Rushden, recently lost to Labour in a gruelling by-election.He followed former army officer James Clark, a special adviser to defence secretary Grant Shapps, being selected for Great Yarmouth last night.Others to get winnable seats include former Home Office special adviser Katie Lam landing the Weald of Kent constituency last year.Rishi Sunak is lining up members of his number 10 team for winnable seats More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has come under fire for his role in the Partygate scandal from a worker whose mother died during the pandemic.The prime minister was asked “how anyone can trust you?” by a man who was unable to visit his mother in hospital before she passed away in 2020.During a staff Q&A at a factory near Milton Keynes, an employee said: “My mum died in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.Rishi Sunak was fined for attending a birthday gathering with Boris Johnson More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Electoral Commission will publish advice on its website to warn voters about disinformation online amid fears of foreign interference during the election campaign, The Independent can reveal.The body, which oversees elections in the UK, is working with partner agencies such as Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office to pull together resources to help people navigate digital campaign material during the election.A new hub will be created on the Commission’s website and include information urging voters to think critically about information they may see or hear online, particularly on social media. It comes after The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, warned about the potential threats of artificial intelligence (AI) during the election campaign.A new study from the institute said there was little evidence that AI had directly impacted election results. There have, however, been early signs of the damage the technology had caused to democratic systems more broadly through a “polarised information space”.This included confusion over whether AI-generated content is real, damaging trust in online sources; deepfakes inciting online hate against political figures, threatening their personal safety; and politicians exploiting AI disinformation for potential electoral gain.File photo: The Alan Turing Institute says there is little evidence that AI is directly impacting election results but that it is being used to create a ‘polarised information space’ More