Approximately 50 Irish citizens have been evacuated from Sudan, with more evacuations planned, deputy premier Micheal Martin has said.

The Tanaiste and minister for foreign affairs said evacuations from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to Djibouti were carried out with the assistance of the Spanish and French.

"About 50 Irish citizens were evacuated since yesterday from Khartoum to Djibouti with the support of France and Spain, and I want to take the opportunity to thank the French authorities and the Spanish for doing a remarkable job in terms of a wider coordinated evacuation of European Union citizens," Mr Martin told RTE Radio One.

Sir Keir Starmer was “completely genuine" when he said he wanted to turn the page on the anti-Semitism that "coloured the Jeremy Corbyn period”, a Labour frontbencher said this morning. 

It was suggested to Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, that the Diane Abbott controversy would make things more difficult for the party. 

Mr McFadden said: “I am convinced and I believe, in fact I know, that Keir Starmer is completely genuine when he says he wants to turn the page on the anti-Semitism that coloured the Jeremy Corbyn period. 

“When he became leader I was very clear, I said in public… that we needed not just a new leader in the Labour Party but a new direction and a new world view and so it wasn’t enough just to change personalities, we needed a fundamental change from top to bottom in the Labour Party after that period and after the worst result for 85 years. 

“I think that is what Keir Starmer is genuinely trying to do so I think that he will regret as much as anyone the consequences of yesterday’s letter.” 

A Labour frontbencher said this morning that there is “no hierarchy of victimhood when it comes to racism” as he criticised Diane Abbott over her comments about Jewish people. 

Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, was asked during an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if he believed Ms Abbott should stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election. 

He said: “Disciplinary matters are for the chief whip and the leader. What I am clear about is that that letter was wrong, there is no hierarchy of victimhood when it comes to racism and what we have got to focus on is making sure everybody is treated equally and with dignity.” 

Ms Abbott was stripped of the Labour whip yesterday after she suggested Jewish people do not suffer racism “all their lives”.

Following a backlash to her remarks, she apologised for any “anguish” caused and said she wanted to “wholly and unreservedly withdraw my written remarks and disassociate myself from them”. 

The UK Government needs a "clear-cut plan" to get British nationals out of Sudan, the chairman of the Defence Select Committee said this morning.

Tobias Ellwood told GB News: "What we require is a clear-cut plan as to how to get British passport-holders out. If that plan does not emerge today, then individuals will then lose faith and then start making their own way back."

He warned that could lead to "some very difficult situations": "So it is important that we seek clarity on how, now that the diplomats are out, how does everybody else get out."

Andrew Mitchell was asked in what circumstances the UK could consider attempting an airlift of British citizens to get them out of Sudan. 

He told Sky News: "We keep all the options under review. We are conscious of the danger they are in, all the time." 

Highlighting the difficulty of conducting such an operation, the international development minister said Khartoum is a "war zone" with "people using heavy weapons in the capital city of Sudan". 

"We will do everything we can to help them, that is possible," he added. 

Andrew Mitchell said "every single option is being explored in detail" when it comes to looking at how British nationals could be rescued from Sudan. 

But the international development minister was unable to say when such a rescue could be attempted. 

Asked when UK citizens could be evacuated, Mr Mitchell told Sky News: "I cannot answer that question. All I can tell you is that every single option is being explored in detail and the moment that it is possible to change the travel advice and move them, we will."

He added: "We are looking at every single opportunity to help them, to evacuate, and we will take any opportunity that presents itself to do so."

British diplomats rescued from Sudan were in "acute danger" and the Government will now do "everything we can" to "get our British citizens out", the international development minister said this morning. 

Andrew Mitchell told Sky News: "We will do everything we can and I mean everything to get our British citizens out. An extremely successful but complicated operation was conducted yesterday morning which got the diplomats out. 

"We have a specific duty of care for the diplomats. But I must stress that these diplomats were in acute danger because the guns were either side of the British embassy and the British residence and we got them out as fast as we could, as did the Americans get their diplomats out. 

"That was a successful and brilliantly executed operation and our attention, as it has always been over the last week since we went into 24/7 crisis mode on the Sudan situation, to facilitate the exit of our own citizens as soon as it is safe to do so." 

Andrew Mitchell, the international development minister, said the situation in Sudan is one of "chaos and enormous violence". 

He told Sky News the "absolute number one requirement is to get a ceasefire" and that the use of heavy weaponry in built up areas is "absolutely appalling".

Alicia Kearns suggested UK nationals stuck in Sudan were in more peril following the departure of foreign diplomats.

When it was put to her that their exit could remove any restraint exercised by the warring parties, the Tory chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "So I can’t say I don’t disagree with that.

"The reality is though, every country as I understand it did remove their diplomats because they assess the situation to be so severe, the risk to those individuals’ lives, and the country does have an obligation to our diplomats.

"But we have to get our people out."

The UK Government must make a decision on whether it will evacuate British nationals from Sudan as quickly as possible, a senior Tory MP has said. 

Alicia Kearns said British nationals in the country need to know if they will be evacuated so that they can make their own plans if no help is being sent. 

She told the BBC: "The reality is we have to get British nationals out. If, however, there was to be no evacuation because it is too dangerous - the Americans have said they will not evacuate their people, the French have had their people shot at - then we have a moral obligation to tell British nationals as soon as possible that that is the judgement that has been made because they then need to be able to make their own decisions."

British nationals in Sudan are "terrified" as water and food are now running out, the Tory chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee said this morning. 

Alicia Kearns told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "We have to think about the context in which they find themselves which will be abject fear. There is very little water left, very little food. 

"I am even hearing stories of people killing their pets because they are worried they are going to starve. People are terrified and across the world there is a very limited number of evacuations going on because of the complexities on the ground."

There could be more than 4,000 British nationals hoping to be evacuated from Sudan, according to a senior Tory MP. 

Alicia Kearns, the chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning: "I suspect that we are well over a thousand who wish to be evacuated.

"But these sometimes these are large families. I suspect we could be looking at 3,000, 4,000 plus."

The UK Government is facing increasing scrutiny over its response to fighting in Sudan, with the Foreign Office having been accused of abandoning British civilians (you can read the full overnight story here).