London, United Kingdom. The Brexit had looked like a simple, straight forward separation from the European Union by the United Kingdom, but incendiary statements by a shadow home secretary have had the effect of a match dropped into a bucket of gasoline called racism.
Diane Abbott has been accused of calling Brexiteers “racist” after she linked the UK’s exit from the European Union to a rise in race hate on a television program in the UK.
English viewers criticised the shadow home secretary as “disgraceful” and “disrespectful” after an audience member questioned her about remarks she made at a Labour party conference this past September.
Shadow Secretary Abbott told the audience at an event discussing racism: “The people that complain about the freedom of movement will not be satisfied because what they really want is to see less foreign looking people on their streets.”
The offended audience member, who said the Labour MP’s comments had caused him “so much distress and hurt”, demanded an apology for her inflamatory statements at the publicly broadcast event.
Responding to the criticism, Abbott denied the comments, claiming she would “never say that people voted to come out because they were racist”. Not leaving well enough alone, Abbott then doubled down on her racism charges, “So I would never say that people voted to come out because they were racist.” However, the MP then continued: “But, there is no question that in the month after the Brexit vote, we had a 41% rise in race hate.”
Abbot then stepped off the cliff of moderation stating yet again,“I’m not saying there weren’t good reasons to come out of the EU, but lets be clear about the rise in hate crimes that we have seen since.” Viewers immediately took to social media in remarks critical of the MP’s performance, the majority of which accused her of insensitivity and racism in the Brexit themed program.