Seven U.K. lawmakers announced their resignation from the U.K.’s main opposition Labour party on Monday.
On Monday morning, MPs Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker, Mike Gapes, Ann Coffey and Chuka Umunna said they had left the party.
Announcing their move at a press conference at London’s County Hall, Mr Leslie, a former shadow chancellor, said Labour had been “hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left”, while Ms Berger said she had come to the “sickening” conclusion the party is now “institutionally antisemitic”.
Mr Corbyn said: ”I am disappointed that these MPs 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.”
Speaking first, lawmaker Luciana Berger said that from today the group would sit in the U.K. Parliament as a new group of MPs, known as “The Independent Group.”
Berger cited the party leadership’s failure to address racism against Jewish people as her main reason for leaving as well as an ongoing culture of “bullying.”
“I have become embarrassed and ashamed to remain in the Labour Party,” the Liverpool Wavertree MP said. “I have come to the sickening conclusion that it is institutionally anti-semitic.
