MPs quit over Labour leader’s Brexit ‘betrayal’
● Seven now courting others to join centre-left group
Seven Labour members of parliament quit on Monday over leader Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to Brexit and a row over anti-Semitism, saying Britain’s main opposition party had been “hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left”.
In a direct challenge to Corbyn, the seven centrist MPs said they were courting others from across parliament to join their group, because “enough is enough” in keeping silent over their doubts about the Labour leader’s fitness for office.
United by a desire for a second referendum on Britain’s decision to leave the EU, now that the likely terms of the divorce are known, they acknowledged their move would not change the arithmetic in parliament, where there is as yet no majority for such a socalled “People’s Vote”.
But their move underlines the increasing frustration within Labour over Corbyn’s reluctance to change his Brexit strategy – the leftist leader and long-time critic of the EU has stuck to his preference for a new election or his plan to leave the bloc.
With only 39 days until Britain leaves the EU, its biggest foreign and trade policy shift in more than 40 years, divisions over Brexit have fragmented British politics, breaking down traditional party lines and creating new ad hoc coalitions.
“The Labour party we joined that we campaigned for and believed in is no longer today’s Labour Party.
“We did everything we could to save it, but it has now been hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left,” MP Chris Leslie said.
“Evidence of Labour’s betrayal on Europe is now visible for all to see – offering to actually enable this government’s Brexit and constantly holding back from allowing the public a final say.”
The seven are Leslie, Luciana Berger, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna, Mike Gapes and Ann Coffey.
They will continue to sit as MPs under the banner “The Independent Group”.
Corbyn expressed his disappointment that the group had left, referring in a statement to “Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election” when the opposition saw its biggest increase in vote share since 1945 to win 262 seats.
But the seven may only be the start of a bigger exodus, a Labour source close to the group said.
That, critics say, could split the party and hand almost certain victory to the governing Conservatives in any new election.
Britain’s 2016 EU referendum, in which 52% voted to leave versus 48% to remain, has split not only British towns and villages but also parliament, with both Conservative and Labour leaders struggling to keep their parties united.
Eurosceptics in Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party flexed their muscle by voting against her government in a symbolic Brexit ballot last week but have so far given little sign of formally breaking away.
But MPs in the new Labour independent grouping may hope to tempt away some pro-EU members of the governing party and said they were holding talks across parliament.