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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Aaron Curran

Former Liverpool MP Luciana Berger re-joins Labour Party

Former MP Luciana Berger has re-joined the Labour Party four years after leaving.

The 41-year-old was MP for Wavertree from 2010 to 2019 before quitting the Labour Party over alleged anti-Semitism. She has re-joined Labour following an apology from current leader Sir Keir Starmer for the disgusting" and "intolerable" abuse she suffered.

Mr Starmer called her decision to leave "principled and brave", and said her being forced out by "intimidation, thuggery and racism" will "forever be a stain on Labour's history".

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Her decision to re-join the party comes after the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) moved Labour out of special measures following a new report. A previous report in 2020 found that the party was responsible for "unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination".

After leaving Labour in 2019, Miss Berger went on to found the centrist, pro-EU Independent Group - later named Change UK - in February 2019, but left the group in June that year to sit as an independent.

At the time, she said she had "no intention" of joining the Liberal Democrats, but joined two months later over its anti-Brexit stance. She left the House of Commons in 2019.

In his letter of apology to Luciana Berger, Kier Starmer added: "It is my firm belief that this is a party unrecognisable from the one you left in 2019. We still have much, more more we need to do. I would be honoured to work alongside you in continuing to build a Labour Party we can be proud of- a Labour Party that can win again."

In a response, she said: "I am looking forward to re-joining the party and working with you to continue what you have started. It is time to replace this reckless and divisive government and ultimately make the difference our country so desperately deserves."

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