Joan Ryan said the party had become “infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism.”
An eighth lawmaker in the UK announced her resignation from the opposition Labour Party on Tuesday, saying it had become “infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism.”
Joan Ryan, the MP for Enfield North, will join seven of her former Labour colleagues sitting in parliament as a splinter movement called "The Independent Group”.
READ MORE: Why have MPs quit the UK’s Labour Party and what will they do next? | Euronews answers
In a statement shared on social media, Ryan described the decision to leave the Labour Party as “terribly difficult”.
“I cannot remain a member of the Labour Party while its leadership allows Jews to be abused with impunity and the victims of such abuse to be ridiculed, have their motives questioned, and their integrity called into doubt,” she wrote.
"I cannot remain a member of the Labour Party while its leadership singles out for demonization and delegitimization the world's only Jewish state."
The seven other MPs who left the party on Monday cited issues with Labour’s handling of Brexit, anti-Semitism and the political leanings of its leadership among their reasons.
READ MORE: UK's Labour Party divided over anti-Semitism | Raw Politics
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reacted to their departure by saying he was “disappointed that these MPs have felt unable to continue to work together for the Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and saw us increase our vote by the largest share since 1945.”
