City Labour MPs ready to stick with Corbyn
Move follows resignation of seven colleagues over leadership
ALL nine of Birmingham’s Labour MPs have vowed to stay in the party under Jeremy Corbyn’s controversial leadership.
They issued a joint statement after eight Labour colleagues, including Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger, this week resigned from the party to form a new independent group, which could eventually become a rival political party.
Three Tory MPs also resigned from their party to join the group.
Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston wrote to Prime Minister Theresa May to say they had quit.
But Birmingham’s Labour MPs were adamant they were staying put.
The MPs are Liam Byrne (Hodge Hill), Shabana Mahmood (Ladywood), Preet Kaur Gill (Edgbaston), Jack Dromey (Erdington), Khalid Mahmood (Perry Barr), Roger Godsiff (Hall Green), Steve McCabe (Selly Oak), Jess Phillips (Yardley) and Richard Burden (Northfield).
They said: “We will continue to fight for the better future we know is possible, standing together as part of the Labour family, with our trade unions, socialist societies and in Parliament as Labour MP’s.”
They added: “For more than a century our movement has fought for social justice, for the many and not the few. That’s the radical tradition which our communities, our city and country need today more than ever. We came into politics to turn both our idealism and our anger at injustice, into action: real change for the common good.
“That’s why we will continue to fight for the better future we know is possible, standing together as part of the Labour family, with our trade unions, socialist societies and in Parliament as Labour MP’s.
“Although we wish our colleagues had not chosen to leave, Labour must not think itself beyond criticism. As Labour members within the Labour movement, it is important that we listen to the concerns that have been raised.”
Mr Umunna has signalled that a new centre party could be formally created by the end of the year.
He said: “There needs to be an alternative, so that’s perfectly possible. But I don’t get to determine this.”
Tom Watson, Labour’s Deputy Leader and MP for West Bromwich East, said the MPs who left “have come to a premature conclusion”.
But he said: “I confess I feared this day would come. And I fear now, that unless we change, we may see more days like this.”
In a blunt warning to Mr Corbyn, Mr Watson said the party should once again embrace the centre-left policies and traditions it appears to have abandoned since he became leader.
He said: “Social democratic and democratic socialist traditions, which has always been the mainstream of Labour’s political thought, is where we can find the answers to the current crisis.”
The MP said he would work with Labour MPs “to develop policies within that tradition to address the challenges of the future”.
Mr Watson said: “The Front Bench needs once again to reflect the balance of opinion in the Parliamentary Labour Party.”
The Independent Group launched a series of attacks on what has become of the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
Ms Berger, who is Jewish and has been targeted by claiming to support Corbyn, said: “I cannot remain in a party that I have today come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic.”
Mr Leslie said Labour’s leadership “are hostile to business large and small”, adding: “They make impossible promises which everybody knows, in their hearts, couldn’t be kept without putting the economy at risk.”
Mr Gapes said: “Jeremy Corbyn, and those around him, are on the wrong side on so many international issues, from Russia to Syria to Venezuela.”