7 politicians quit Labour over Brexit
MPs say they will sit as independent group, complicating EU vote
Seven pro-Europe lawmakers abruptly quit the opposition Labour Party on Monday over their frustration with its leader Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of Brexit and antiSemitism allegations in the ranks.
The seven said they would sit in Parliament as an independent group. Their defection creates new opportunities and complications for the upcom- ing votes on how Britain leaves the European Union next month — if it leaves at all.
At a morning news conference, Parliament member Luciana Berger said she had become “embarrassed” and “ashamed” of the Labour Party, which she said was “institutionally anti-Semitic.” Berger, who is Jewish, added she was leaving behind a culture of “bullying, bigotry and intimidation.”
Chris Leslie, another breakaway lawmaker, said the party had been “hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left” and that Labour’s “betrayal on Europe was visible for all to see.” While many Labour party members support a second ref- erendum on whether to leave the European Union, Corbyn has been cold to the idea of a do-over.
Leslie said, however, that “our differences go far deeper than Brexit” — revealing the depth of antipathy to Corbyn, 69, whose self-described “radical” agenda energized new and young voters in the last election but alienated the centre of the party.
“The last three years have confirmed how irresponsible it would be to allow this leader of the opposition to take the office of prime minister of the United Kingdom. Many people still in the Labour Party will privately admit this to be true,” Leslie said.
“The pursuit of policies that would threaten our national security through hostility to NATO. The refusal to act when needed to help those when facing humanitarian distress, preferring to believe states hostile to our country rather than believing our police and security services — these are all rooted in the Labour leadership’s obsession with a narrow, outdated ideology,” Leslie said.
Corbyn said he was “disappointed” with the resignations but boasted of “the Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and saw us increase our vote by the largest share since 1945.” Under the banner “for the many, not the few,” Labour votes surged in 2017, denying Prime Minister Theresa May a majority government.
Labour lawmakers said they were dismayed by the news of the resignations.
Lucy Powell, a member of Parliament, tweeted that it was the “wrong decision.” But she said that her friend and former colleague Berger had been subject to “despicable and appalling abuse.” Powell said, “Her leaving must make us redouble our efforts to tackle all anti-Semitism in the Party.”
Corbyn has conceded that anti-Semitism is “a real problem that Labour is working to overcome.”