Labour MPs including Luciana Berger and Chuka Umunna resigned from the Labour party to create the Independent Group in the House of Commons (Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

It was with great sadness that I heard yesterday that seven of my Labour MP colleagues had resigned from the party.

I am old enough to remember the last big split in the Labour party – it led to the formation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. The new party was launched with an even bigger fanfare than the current group, it had almost universal approval from the media and it made amazing strides very quickly.

Twenty eight Labour MPs defected to the SDP. Unfortunately almost all of them incinerated their careers. And, for all of the sensation of its launch, the lasting achievement of the SDP was to split the Labour vote and help keep the Tories in power for 18 years.



So anyone would be sad contemplating yesterday’s split. The danger is that it puts the possibility of a Labour government further away than ever but so many ordinary people are desperate for a Labour government.


The Tories are the party that brought us record levels of violent crime; a struggling National Health Service; damaging cuts in local government; benefit cuts; the Windrush scandal and a bungled Brexit.

We have to address the issues raised by the defectors and show what we are doing about them.

Of course, the colleagues who are saying that we should not launch personal attacks on the splitters are absolutely correct. The public will not be interested in what they may well regard as a squabble inside the Westminster bubble.

They want politicians who are engaged in the reality of ordinary people’s lives and can put an end to the interminable wrangle over Brexit. So we have to address the issues raised by the defectors and show what we are doing about them.

On anti-Semitism, it is simply not true to say that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn has done nothing. We were originally inexcusably slow to deal with some cases but under a new general secretary we have very much improved the process.

Amongst other things, we have appointed an in-house barrister, nearly doubled the staff working on the investigations and disputes processes and adopted the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism and all 11 examples of anti-Semitism attached to it.

One anti-Semite in the Labour party is one too many – sadly racism and anti-Semitism exist in all political parties and society as a whole. However I simply do not recognise the description of the Labour party set out by some of the splitters as an ‘institutionally racist’ party. On the contrary, some of the fiercest campaigners against racism that I know are in the Labour party.

It also untrue that Labour has been complicit in a Tory Brexit. The truth is that it was Labour in Parliament that campaigned for a meaningful vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. I voted Remain, I represent one of the strongest Remain constituencies in the country and if a second referendum were held tomorrow, I would vote Remain again.

But I think that critics of Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on Brexit don’t appreciate how he has struggled to keep the party together on this issue. Labour represents the some of the most pro-Remain constituencies in the country (including mine, Hackney North) but it also represents the some most pro-Leave constituencies in the country.



The defections are a blow. But, with the awful example of the SDP in the 80s in our minds, we must strive to keep the Labour party together.

MORE: Former Labour MP apologises for using words ‘funny tinge’ to describe BME people

MORE: BBC microphone picks up someone saying ‘we’re f***ed’ as 7 MPs quit Labour party

MORE: Attempts to smear Jeremy Corbyn only prove what a threat he is