Britain: Ninth Labour MP quits opposition party

<p>By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal </p> <p>LONDON (AA) – The Labour party contingency of Britain’s parliament lost more blood Friday, with a ninth MP leaving Labour in less than a week, blasting alleged anti-Semitism in the party leadership.</p> <p>Ian Austin, representing Dudley North in the West Midlands, chose the local paper Express and Star to make his announcement, in a guest op-ed slamming the party as “broken.”</p> <p>Citing the alleged anti-Semitism in the party, Austin said he was “appalled at the offence and distress [leader] Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party have caused to Jewish people.”</p> <p> “I always tell them the truth and I could never ask local people to make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister,” he said.</p> <p>“It is terrible that a culture of extremism, antisemitism and intolerance is driving out good MPs and decent people who have committed their life to mainstream politics,” he wrote.</p> <p>He said that he had not spoken to the new Independent Group, now made up of eight Labour MPs and three former Conservative MPs.</p> <p>“The hard left is now in charge of the party, they’re going to get rid of lots of decent mainstream MPs and I just can’t see how it can return to the mainstream party that won elections and changed the country for the better,” Austin said.</p> <p>He added: “I think the Labour party is broken and clearly things have to change but that’s not what today is about, and I’ve not talked to them about that.”</p> <p>A Labour spokesman said the party “regrets” Austin quitting, adding: “He was elected as a Labour MP and so the democratic thing is to resign his seat and let the people of Dudley decide who should represent them.&quot;</p> <p>Earlier this week, amid the continuing chaos over Brexit, a group of seven MPs resigned from Labour and said they would stay in parliament as independent lawmakers, followed soon thereafter by an eighth.</p> <p>Three Conservative MPs also resigned their party this week to join the Independent Group.</p>