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Dame Louise Ellman has announced she is quitting Labour over Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of anti-Semitism in the party.
The MP, who has served Liverpool Riverside for 55 years, said it was a “truly agonising” decision and that she would seek to return if there was a change of leadership.
But she slammed Mr Corbyn, saying that under his leadership anti-Semitism has become mainstream within Labour.
Dame Louise, who is Jewish, said the expected upcoming election has forced her to act, saying she could not tell her constituents to vote him in as Prime Minister.
Announcing her decision to step down on Wednesday night, she said: “Jewish members have been bullied, abused and driven out [of the Labour Party]. Antisemites have felt comfortable and vile conspiracy theories have been propagated.
“A party that permits anti-Jewish racism to flourish cannot be called anti-racist.
“This is not compatible with the Labour Party’s values of equality, tolerance and respect for minorities. Shamefully, its anti-Jewish racism is now being investigated by one of the last labour government’s proudest creations, the Equality and Human Rights Commission.”
She added: “Jeremy Corbyn – who spent three decades on the backbenches consorting with, and never confronting, antisemites, Holocaust deniers and terrorists – has attracted the support of too many antisemites.”
“The Labour Party is no longer a safe place for Jews and Jeremy Corbyn must bear the responsibility for this. We cannot allow him to do to the country what he has done to the Labour Party.
Mr Corbyn has repeatedly promised to “root out” the “real problem” of anti-Semitism within Labour.
Dame Louis said she would not join another political party and said she hoped to return to Labour once it is under new leadership.
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