Diane Abbott urges Leeds to back another General Election in visit to city

The Shadow Home Secretary spoke to the Yorkshire Evening Post as she paid a visit to Guiseley Theatre alongside Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday.

Both politicians visited as part of the Labour Roots event, which starts in Leeds this weekend before making its way across the country.

Although Mr Corbyn was unable to join on the visit to Guiseley Theatre, Ms Abbott watched children enjoy a music workshop with Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Pudsey, Jane Aitchison.

Both are due to attend an anti-racism rally in Leeds city centre on Saturday evening.

Both are due to attend an anti-racism rally in Leeds city centre on Saturday evening.

During the visit, Abbott admitted her party are in for some tough questions when it comes to topics of Brexit, Labour's disappointing results in local elections and rising crime.

She said: "The Labour Party's view is that the country needs a Labour government.

"The Conservative Party has made a complete mess of everything from Brexit to HS2, so we believe the most important thing is to have a General Election.

"Whoever the Tory leader is after the Tory leadership campaign, they will still not have the votes in Parliament to get any form of Brexit through let alone anything else, so we believe we should have a General Election.

"If we can't have that we are looking for a people's vote because the problem is that Westminster is completely deadlocked."

Ms Abbot admitted the recent local elections had been "disappointing" for Labour but urged the people of Yorkshire to show their faith in her party.

She said: "If people want to know who to vote for I would clearly ask them to look at the Conservative's record whether it's the economy, Brexit, HS2 or health and education. Just look at the record and you will see the only option is to vote for the Labour Party for change and new beginnings."

After watching young people take part in the music workshop, Ms Abbott said she wanted to see more young people get involved with politics.

She said: "These children are only young, but we want them and teenagers to get involved with politics and our debates.

"One of the reasons we have seen a rise in crime and antisocial behaviour is because of the collapse of youth services.

"Any sort of project which takes people of the street and brings people from different communities can only be a good thing."

A Great Big Rally, which will feature live music from Ferocious Dog, Duncan Evans and others, will take place in Leeds city centre later this evening, where Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is expected to address the crowds.

The event is free to attend but tickets must be purchased in advance.

Doors open at 5.30pm for a 6pm start.

Tickets are available from the Labour Party website.