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7 lawmakers quit UK Labour Party over Brexit, anti-Semitism

Seven lawmakers split from Britain's opposition Labour Party on Monday, saying that the party leadership's failures over Brexit, anti-Semitism and a culture of bullying in the party had left them no choice.

Published February 18,2019
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Britain's Labour Party MP Luciana Berger arrives at a news conference in London, Britain, Feb. 18, 2019. (Reuters Photo)

Seven British lawmakers say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism.

Many Labour lawmakers are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing.

They accuse him of mounting a weak opposition to the Conservative government's plans for leaving the European Union, and of failing to stamp out a vein of anti-Jewish prejudice in the party.

Luciana Berger, one of those who announced Monday she is leaving, said Labour has become "institutionally anti-Semitic."

The quitters are only a fraction of Labour's 256 lawmakers. But this is the biggest split in the party since four senior members quit in 1981 to form the Social Democratic Party.