LONDON: Seven lawmakers announced their resignation from the U.K's main opposition Labour party on Monday.
Lawmaker Luciana Berger was reported to have said that from today the group would sit in the U.K Parliament as a new batch of MPs, known as "The Independent Group."
According to reports, MPs quit the Labour Party over leader Jeremy Corbyn's approach to Brexit and a row over anti-Semitism, saying Labour had been "hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left."
The departure of the small group of lawmakers underlines the mounting frustration with Corbyn's reluctance to change his Brexit strategy and start campaigning for a second referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.
The lawmakers, who resigned, include Leslie, Luciana Berger, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna, Mike Gapes and Ann Coffey. They will continue to sit as members of parliament under the banner “The Independent Group”.
Corbyn expressed his disappointment that the group had left, referring in a statement to “Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election” when the opposition party saw its biggest increase in vote share since 1945 to win 262 seats.
His finance policy chief, John McDonnell, called on the lawmakers to “stand down” and try to win back their seat in parliament. The local branch for Labour in Umunna’s constituency asked him to call a so-called by-election.