Ninth MP to leave the party this week says he has no plans to join the Independent Group

Ian Austin has become the ninth MP to quit the Labour party this week, although he told his local newspaper he had no plans to join the Independent Group (TIG), founded earlier this week by some former colleagues and Tory defectors.

The MP for Dudley North in the West Midlands has been disaffected with the party leadership for a couple of years and told the Express & Star newspaper there was a “culture of extremism, antisemitism and intolerance” in Labour.

He criticised Jeremy Corbyn and said he did not want the Labour leader to enter Downing Street, saying: “I always tell them the truth and I could never ask local people to make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister.”

Austin, considered to be on the right of the party, holds his seat with a tiny majority of 22 over the Conservatives and has been the MP since 2005. Earlier this month he was included on a list of 30 pro-Brexit MPs said to be facing the threat of deselection. On Friday he said he did not intend to trigger a byelection.

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He has had a series of run-ins with the leadership, most recently on antisemitism, which he said was one of the principal reasons for his resignation.

In 2016 he told Corbyn to “sit down and shut up” and shouted “you’re a disgrace” as the Labour leader criticised the Iraq war in the House of Commons.

Last year Austin was placed under investigation by the party after he became embroiled in a row with the party chairman, Ian Lavery, over the handling of the antisemitism issue in the summer. The investigation was dropped in November, and Austin hit out at the “appalling” handling of the case.

On Friday he said: “I am appalled at the offence and distress Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party have caused to Jewish people. 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.

“The hard truth is that the party is tougher on the people complaining about antisemitism than it is on the antisemites.”

On Friday lunchtime, John McDonnell signalled that he agreed with some of Austin’s concerns. Labour’s shadow chancellor said that he believed that the party was was not tackling antisemitism with enough vigour, a sign that renewed concern about the handling of the issue has reached senior levels.

“We’ve got to be quicker, and we’ve got to be fiercer,” he said. “I think there’s been a lot of listening but not enough action. That’s the problem.”

His resignation follows those of eight other MPs, including Luciana Berger and Chuka Umunna, who quit Labour and formed TIG. They were joined by three Conservatives earlier this week.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eight Labour MPs who quit to form the Independent Group have been joined by three former Tories. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

But Austin told his local newspaper he had not spoken to TIG. “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,” he said.

Unlike them, Austin has been supportive of Brexit and was one of three Labour MPs who voted with Theresa May’s government in support of her deal, which was nevertheless emphatically rejected by 230 votes. Voters in his constituency backed Brexit by 71% in the 2016 referendum.

But Austin did appear to indicate he could work with TIG in the future. He told BBC West Midlands radio: “That’s not what it is about today; I agree with them that the Labour party is broken.”

TIG MPs were quick to react to Austin’s announcement. Berger said: “I fully understand why Ian Austin has come to this difficult and painful decision.” Another, Chris Leslie, said he had “full respect” for Austin.

Austin told the Express & Star that, under Corbyn, Labour had altered. “I think Jeremy Corbyn has completely changed what was a mainstream party into a completely different party with very different values.

“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.”

Play Video 2:27 Tom Watson: Labour must tackle antisemitism to prevent more MPs leaving – video

Party insiders have thought for several days that Austin was the most likely to quit of Labour’s remaining disaffected MPs, although the party leadership will not welcome another day of intense focus on internal divisions.

A party spokesperson said: “We regret that Ian Austin has left the Labour party. 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.”

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, tweeted: “Very sad to lose another colleague from the Labour team. It’s also personally hard to see a close friend take a decision of this magnitude.”

Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, said Austin’s decision to quit the party was “very sad”. “I have known Ian a long time, before we were MPs and he has been a good friend,” he said. “It’s regrettable that he’s done this.”

But the leftwing backbencher Chris Williamson said Austin was “certainly no loss” and that his “frequent ill-tempered outbursts were an embarrassment to the Labour party”. He added: “The truth is he fought the last election under false pretences, using the Labour brand to get re-elected.”

Austin told the BBC he was not calling a byelection because his job wasto be the local MP for Dudley, and said: “I don’t think what people want is another election. I think local people will understand this decision.”