Seven MPs resigned from the Labour Party on Monday in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to Brexit and anti-Semitism.
The MPs are Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey.
Ms Berger said Labour had become institutionally anti-Semitic and she was “embarrassed and ashamed” to stay, reports BBC.
The MPs are not launching a new political party – they will sit in Parliament as the Independent Group.
But Chuka Umunna said they had “taken the first step” and urged other Labour MPs – and members of other parties – to join them in “building a new politics”.
“Politics is broken, it doesn’t have to be this way. Let’s change it,” he said at a launch event in central London.
He said there would be “no merger” with the Liberal Democrats and the group wanted to “build a new alternative”.
Chris Leslie said the seven would have their first formal meeting “in a few days” time to “assign roles and responsibilities”.
The group has launched a website and a twitter feed.
And the group rejected comparisons with the SDP – which broke away from the Labour Party in the early 1980s but eventually merged with the Liberal Party – saying it was a different era and they would not be contesting by-elections.
In a founding statement, the group sets out its approach to the economy, public services and security, as well as Brexit, saying its aim was to “pursue policies that are evidence-based, rather that led by ideology”.
