Labour crisis: labour councillor warren morgan quits party

Warren Morgan, former leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, said there is a “toxic culture of aggression and bullying within the Party and the broader Corbyn-supporting base”. He said he

was reluctantly resigning after 27 years because the “racism, factionalism bullying and intolerance of any dissenting view is intolerable”. Mr Warren served as council leader for three

years until he stepped down last year. He had previously announced he would not be standing for reelection in May. In his resignation letter, Mr Warren said he had first raised concerns

about anti-Semitism in Labour after the party’s 2017 conference in Brighton. He wrote: “For that I was vilified by members locally and supporters of Jeremy Corbyn nationally. “Friends in the

Jewish Labour Movement urged me not to resign my membership, as others have done, in response to the unchecked and rampant antisemitism amongst Party members, in order to fight back and

clear the party of those with racist antisemitic views. “I have done so until now. The resignation of Luciana Berger from the party is a clear sign that members of the Jewish community and

those who support them have no place in Labour.” On Brexit, Councillor Warren said Mr Corbyn had “wilfully obfuscated and distorted his position” to avoid following through on the party’s

pledge to keep open the option of a second referendum. He added: “Any form of Brexit will harm jobs, employment rights, pay and conditions, opportunities for young people, our NHS and our

economic wellbeing.” His resignation comes after nine Labour MPs quit the Party this week. Eight left to form the breakaway Independent Group, citing anti-Semitism, bullying and Brexit as

their reasons for leaving. Today, Dudley North MP Ian Austin resigned the whip over Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. He said those at the head of Labour had failed to tackle anti-Semitism and

that he was now “ashamed” of the party. And he warned more MPs could quit because they think Mr Corbyn is unfit to be Prime Minister. He said: “I’m sure lots of Labour MPs are grappling with

this issue, all the time. I'm sure they are - 174 of them voted against him in a motion of confidence. "They don't think in their heart of hearts that he is fit to be Prime

Minister either.” Mr Corbyn this week pledged to root out anti-Semitism from the Labour party. In a video message, he said: “I want to make it absolutely clear that I regard the fight

against anti-Semitism as an absolute priority and we are utterly determined to root it out anti-Semitism from our party and our society. “I say again to the Jewish people both in our party

and across the country: we are your ally in the fight against anti-Semitism. “Labour is the only party with a deep rooted history of combatting racism.”