Veteran Merseyside MP Frank Field has resigned from the Labour party.
The politician for Birkenhead blamed a ‘culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation’ within local branches of the opposition for Thursday’s decision.
Mr Field had represented Labour for 39 years in the House of Commons but is now planning to remain in Parliament as an independent candidate.
In a letter to Chief Whip Nick Brown, the 76-year-old cited leader Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on anti-Semitism as a factor in his resignation.
He said: “The first centres on the latest example of Labour’s leadership becoming a force for antisemitism in British politics.
“The latest example, from last week, comes after a series of attempts by Jeremy to deny that past statements and actions by him were anti-semitic.
“Britain fought the Second World War to banish these views from our politics, but that superhuman effort and success is now under huge and sustained internal attack.”
He received a vote of no confidence in his local constituency after voting to support Theresa May’s Brexit plan, which narrowly passed in the Commons.
Field’s Eurosceptic views were reflected in Birkenhead’s outcome at the 2016 EU referendum as the only Wirral-based constituency to back the Leave vote.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Jeremy Corbyn thanks Frank Field for his service to the Labour Party.”