Eighth lawmaker resigns from U.K.’s Labour Party amid anti-Semitism row, Brexit concerns

Joan Ryan, a Labour member of parliament, has become the eighth lawmaker to resign from Britain’s main opposition party.

Ryan, a lawmaker elected from Enfield North, wrote in a tweet late on Tuesday that she was resigning over concerns about anti-Semitism allegations within the party.

Seven other Labour lawmakers quit on Monday over leader Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to Brexit and a row over anti-Semitism, saying Britain’s main opposition party had been “hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left”.

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In a letter posted on Twitter, Ryan accused the Labour Party of being “infected” with “anti-Jewish racism” since Corbyn became its leader in 2015. She alleged that the issue did not exist before Corbyn’s election as Labour leader.

Corbyn, a supporter of Palestinian rights and critic of the Israeli government, has previously been accused by some of failing to tackle anti-Semitism in the party. He denies the allegation.

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Ryan, who was first elected as member of parliament from Enfield North in 1997, will now be joining an independent breakaway group.

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The seven lawmakers who quit the party on Monday will continue to sit as members of parliament under the banner “The Independent Group”.

Corbyn has cemented a shift to the left in Labour, taking control of a party that, under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, moved to the centre to win and retain power for 13 years.

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