Chuka Umunna has told Sky News he believes the Labour Party has “betrayed his community” on Brexit – and said this was a driving force in his decision to become an independent MP.

He was speaking to Sophy Ridge On Sunday after he was among 11 MPs – eight Labour, three Conservative – to leave their parties behind and form The Independent Group.

Mr Umunna was asked what has changed since 2016, when he tweeted that “the courageous thing to do is stay in our party” and warned that a Labour split would give the Tories “decades in office”.

The Streatham MP said: “That was genuinely what I thought at that point. Let me tell you why I changed my mind.

“After really soul-searching on this issue, can I in all conscience say that I want to make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister and the team around him – put them in charge of our national security.

“At the 2017 general election, let’s just be honest, nobody thought that was going to be a prospect. At a future general election, it could be a prospect and in all conscience I can’t do that.”

When asked whether he intends to defend his seat at the next election, Mr Umunna said he “certainly does not intend to leave the field”.

According to the MP, Streatham scored the highest Remain vote in the country during the 2016 EU referendum – and Mr Umunna expressed dismay at Labour’s inability to prevent a “Tory hard Brexit”.

Opinion about Mr Umunna’s decision has been mixed on the streets of his south London constituency. While some said he was a good MP for the area, others believe he was voted in as a Labour candidate – and warn setting up a new movement would not solve the party’s issues.

Sophy Ridge said: “Everyone here knows who Chuka Umunna is and a lot of them think he’s doing a good job. But the loyal Labour vote feels very strong – and the question is if the Independent Group can’t win here, then where can they win?”

On Saturday, Jeremy Corbyn attacked the Labour MPs who quit the party – and said that while he was “very sad” they had left, he had no intention of changing the policies which had delivered the biggest increase in the Labour vote since 1945.

Speaking at a rally in Broxtowe – the seat of Anna Soubry, one of the Tory MPs who joined the Independent Group – Mr Corbyn said: “Walking away from our movement achieves nothing. Not understanding where we have come from is a bad mistake.”

In total, nine MPs have quit Labour over the past week – including Ian Austin, who does not intend to join the Independent Group.

As well as disquiet over his handling of Brexit, several of the politicians criticised Mr Corbyn’s failure to tackle antisemitism among Labour ranks.

But on Friday, Mr Corbyn denied there was a “wide-scale” problem with bullying in Labour – telling Sky News: “There is no place for harshness, bullying or anything else in the party. I don’t believe that it exists on a wide scale.”

He also held out an olive branch to critics by hinting Labour is closer to backing a second EU referendum.

Meanwhile, Theresa May has told Tory grassroots activists she will not allow the vote for the UK to leave the trading bloc to be frustrated.

The prime minister is flying to Egypt, where is she is expected to hold talks with key EU figures. However, Downing Street has played down hopes of a breakthrough during the two-day gathering.

Mrs May told supporters at the National Conservative Convention on Saturday that the government’s focus on delivering Brexit must be “absolute”.

She has faced political strife of her own in recent days, with three of her MPs joining the Independent Group, and three cabinet ministers writing a joint article in which they vowed to back an extension to Article 50 to avoid the risk of a no-deal Brexit.

Despite the disunity, the prime minister told the Oxford conference: “We are not a party of purges and retribution. We called a referendum and let people express their views – so we should not be seeking to deselect any of our MPs because of their views on Brexit.

“Our party is rightly a broad church – on that and other issues. And we will only save our country from the threat of Jeremy Corbyn if we remain one.”

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