UK politics: Abbott claims Labour leadership’s ‘real agenda’ is to prevent her getting the whip back – as it happened

Diane Abbott endorsed a post by the BBC’s Henry Zeffman saying he did not think she would get the whip back ‘anytime soon’. Photograph: Beresford Hodge/Reuters

4.45pm GMT

Afternoon summary

We will be closing this blog shortly but here’s a recap of the day’s main developments.

• GPs are calling on the Tory donor Frank Hester to resign from his health tech company after his remarks about Diane Abbott, which have been widely condemned as racist and misogynist.

• Diane Abbott has claimed that Labour leadership’s “real agenda” is to stop her having the whip restored. (See 1.24pm.)

• The armed forces minister, James Heappey, is to step down imminently from the role and will leave the House of Commons at the next general election, in yet another headache for Rishi Sunak.

• Proposals to crack down on the “unscrupulous” commercial trade of puppy, kitten and ferret smuggling have cleared their first hurdle in the Commons, PA Media reports. PA says Conservative MP Selaine Saxby said the animal welfare (import of dogs, cats and ferrets) bill will ensure that pets are not sold or traded as objects. The bill, which was given an unopposed second reading and which has the backing of Government, proposes to ban dogs and cats under six months from being brought into the UK. It also prohibits the importation of heavily pregnant animals and those with mutilations, such as cropped ears or a docked tail.

• But Liz Truss has accused Labour MP of sabotaging her own private member’s bill after a long debate on Saxby’s bill meant there was no time for hers to be considered. (See 2.55pm.) The Truss bill would have in effect banned social transitioning in schools, and would have ensured that references to sex in the Equality Act meant biological sex, in a way that might have stopped trans women accessing single-sex spaces. No 10 said it supported the “sentiment” in the bill (see 12.31pm), but Tory MP were reportedly encouraged to join the filibuster to stop it being debated.

Updated at 5.19pm GMT

4.31pm GMT

With 2 May out as as the date for the general election, the search is on for an alternative. In a story for the Independent, Zoë Grünewald says Rishi Sunak is working towards 10 October. She says:

Mr Sunak did not indiciate when the election would be called, but Downing Street sources told The Independent that the date has been pencilled in for the second Thursday in October.

It is understood that the PM is unlikely to wait until mid-November, since it would clash with US presidential election.