Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott Source: Yui Mok/PA Wire/PA Images

DIANE ABBOTT WILL be stepping aside as shadow home secretary in the UK due to ill health.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced that Lyn Brown, the shadow policing minister, will stand in for Abbott, who pulled out of two major election events yesterday due to illness.

In a statement, the party said: “Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party, has asked Lyn Brown to stand in for Diane Abbott as shadow home secretary for the period of her ill health.”

Earlier, Corbyn told BBC Breakfast Abbott hasn’t been well for a couple of days and is “taking a break from the campaign”.

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“Of course Diane is somebody that works extremely hard, that represents her community very well, and I have to say has received totally unfair levels of attack and abuse not just recently – over many years,” he said.

Last month, Abbott was criticised after repeatedly mixing up the cost of hiring new police officers in a radio interview.