bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

The seven MPs who broke away from the main opposition Labour Party took their seats as an independent group in parliament for the first time on Tuesday as rumours swirled of possible further defections.
The biggest split in British politics in nearly four decades showed up divisions in both Labour and the ruling Conservatives that have been stretched to breaking point since the Brexit referendum in 2016.

One of the seven lawmakers, Chuka Umunna, a leading campaigner for a second referendum, said on Tuesday he now wanted to establish a new centrist political party by the end of the year.
“There needs to be an alternative,” he told BBC radio.
The MPs said they were mainly leaving the party over leader Jeremy Corbyn’s support for Brexit.
Left-wingers were divided over the creation of the “Independent Group”, pointing to the ultimate failure of the Social Democratic Party started by four rebels from the Labour Party in 1981.
“During a national crisis over Brexit, the breakaway of seven MPs with no policy programme is a dangerous distraction,” wrote Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, who once supported the SDP.

But Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson said his party had to change or it could “see more days like this”.
“I love this party but sometimes I no longer recognise it,” he said in a video statement.
The BBC reported that two Conservative MPs could switch to the new group and other media reported more Labour MPs could join.
Conservative MPs Sarah Wollaston, a pro-EU moderate whose name has been mentioned in the media as a potential defector, tweeted that Brexit hardliners were “taking over the Tory party”.
“Soon there will be nothing left at all to appeal to moderate centre ground voters,” she said.
Media reports noted that fellow Conservative Anna Soubry removed references to the Conservative Party on her Twitter biography.
But Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng told a Brexit conference on Tuesday he was “not sure” any Conservatives would join the group.
“If they do, I think that would be very regrettable,” he said.
British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calls for election to end Brexit impasse
Nigel Farage, whose UK Independence Party played a huge role in bringing about the Brexit vote, told the same conference the breakaway signalled a “reshaping of British politics”.
“The existing two and a half party system just can’t cope with Brexit. I do begin to think that maybe what we saw yesterday was a beginning of a fragmentation of our establishment parties,” he said.


Starmer urges Europe to deepen interdependence amid Trump threats

Britain’s surging Reform UK party draws big-name Tory defector

UK rejoins Erasmus student exchange programme in post-Brexit reset under PM Keir Starmer

US-UK deal slashes tariffs on medicines, boosting NHS spending

Brexit

Rebel British MPs take up seats in parliament a day after leaving Labour

British Labour MP Tom Watson poses for pictures outside the Queen Elizabeth II centre in London, on November 29, 2011, ahead of BSkyB's annual general meeting. James Murdoch, son of News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch, is expected to face calls from shareholders to resign as chairman of BSkyB, amid continued allegations of phone hacking by News International publication The News of the World. AFP PHOTO/CARL COURT

Former Labour party MP Chuka Umunna arrives to speak at a press conference in London on February 18, 2019, where he and colleagues announced their resignation from the Labour Party, and the formation of a new independent group of MPs. - Seven MPs from Britain's opposition Labour Party on Monday announced they were breaking away in protest at the party leadership's support for Brexit and its failure to stamp out anti-Semitism. Speaking at a hastily arranged press conference in London, the seven attacked party chief Jeremy Corbyn for leading the party to the far left and said they would sit as an independent group in parliament. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

Chuka Umunna during a news conference announcing the seven resignations from the main UK opposition Labour Party in London on February 18, 2019. Photo: Bloomberg

News

World

Europe

Seven lawmakers quit the opposition party because of its Brexit stance and more are expected to follow from both main parties


Seven lawmakers quit the opposition party because of its Brexit stance and more are expected to follow from both main parties.


Britain

Rebel British MPs take up seats in parliament a day after leaving Labour

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Seven lawmakers quit the opposition party because of its Brexit stance and more are expected to follow from both main parties

Seven lawmakers quit the opposition party because of its Brexit stance and more are expected to follow from both main parties