LONDON — Seven lawmakers from Britain’s opposition Labour Party resigned on Monday to protest their leader’s approach toward the country’s withdrawal from the European Union and his handling of accusations of anti-Semitism.
The party, which is led by Jeremy Corbyn, has been divided by growing tensions for months, with some centrist lawmakers struggling to reconcile their positions with the leadership’s more leftist policies. While there had been speculation that the breakaway lawmakers would create a new centrist party, there was no immediate indication of such plans on Monday.
The seven who resigned were Luciana Berger, Ann Coffey, Mike Gapes, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Angela Smith and Chuka Umunna.
Ms. Berger said that the lawmakers would sit in Parliament as an independent grouping. “I cannot remain in a party that I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic,” she said.
Mr. Leslie said that the Labour Party had been “hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left,” and criticized “Labour’s betrayal on Europe.”
Responding to the announcement by the members of Parliament, Mr. Corbyn said, “I am disappointed that these M.P.s have felt unable to continue to work together for the Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and saw us increase our vote by the largest share since 1945.”
“Labour won people over on a program for the many, not the few,” he added. “The Conservative Government is bungling Brexit,” he said, referring to Britain’s exit from the European Union, “while Labour has set out a unifying and credible alternative plan.”
Founding new parties is difficult in Britain because the country’s electoral system makes it difficult for smaller groups to win representation in Parliament. A group that splintered from Labour in the 1980s to form a centrist social democratic party ultimately failed.
Nevertheless, the resignation of the seven Labour lawmakers on Monday reflects the strains that Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union has placed on a political system dominated by two main parties, each plagued by schisms.
The Conservative Party of Prime Minister Theresa May is itself deeply divided by Brexit and, while it has so far managed to mostly hold together, several pro-European lawmakers in the party have faced vocal opposition from hard-line supporters of leaving the bloc.
During the campaign leading up to the 2016 referendum on Brexit, Labour campaigned to remain in the European Union, presenting a more united front on the Brexit issue than did the Conservatives. But Mr. Corbyn was considered to have done the bare minimum to help the campaign for a remain vote.
Now, with the British government’s deal on the terms of its departure in jeopardy, and the threat of an economically damaging exit rising, many members of the Labour Party have expressed support for a second referendum on the issue. Last week, Mr. Leslie said that it was “heartbreaking” that the party had not taken a more active role in opposing the country’s departure from the bloc.
But Mr. Corbyn, a longtime critic of the European Union, has so far refused to support a second plebiscite. Numerous Labour lawmakers support him on the matter, arguing that the result of the first referendum must be honored, particularly representatives form the north and the center of the country, where a majority of voters supported leaving the bloc.
But that support is far from universal, and there have been other complaints about Mr. Corbyn’s leadership within Labour’s ranks, most notably over claims that he has failed to address accusations of anti-Semitism in the party.
That issue was highlighted recently when Ms. Berger, a Labour lawmaker who represents Liverpool Wavertree and who has been a vocal critic of Mr. Corbyn’s handling of anti-Semitism, was threatened with a vote of no-confidence by local party activists. The motion was eventually withdrawn.
In 1981, a group of senior figures in the Labour Party resigned to form the Social Democratic Party, promising to break the mold of British politics. Despite some initial success and a good showing of support in opinion polls, the party was dissolved in 1988.
Source : Nytimes
