Seven Labour MPs have quit the party and formed their own independent group in a protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

Within two hours of their announcement a new twitter feed had been set-up and the group's website had crashed due to servers being unable to handle traffic.

The seven, who include one-time leadership candidate Chuka Umunna said they will not be setting up a new party, but sit in the House of Commons as The Independent Group.

Using the slogan #changepolitics the group who include Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey said in their first tweet that "politics is broken."

Politics is broken. Let’s change it. #ChangePolitics https://t.co/NUp4yHtfpI

— The Independent Group (@TheIndepGroup) February 18, 2019

Speaking at the group's launch event in London, Luciana Berger MP for Liverpool Wavertree said that it was a "very difficult, painful but necessary decision."

She added that she was "embarrassed and ashamed to remain in the Labour Party" before saying that her core values of equality for all, opportunity for all were still as strong as ever.

"The values which I hold really dear and which led me to join the Labour Party as a student almost 20 years ago - remain who I am," she said.

"And yet these values have been consistently and constantly violated, undermined and attacked, as the Labour Party today declines to my constituents and our country before party interests.

"I cannot remain in a party which I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic."

Chuka Umunna, MP for Streatham in London, who briefly campaigned for the Labour leadership in 2015 before withdrawing before the vote, called on MPs from all sides to join their group.

He said that there were no plans to merge with the Liberal Democrats and instead called upon politicians from all political persuasion to "build a new politics."

He said: "It is time we dumped this country's old-fashioned politics and created an alternative that does justice to who we are today and gives this country a politics fit for the here and now - the 21st Century."

Although not a political party, the group will become the joint sixth biggest group in the House of Commons with its seven members, Sinn Fein also has seven MPs, who don't take their seats.

Reacting to the news, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the seven should submit themselves for by-election.

"I am disappointed that these MPs have felt unable to continue to work together for the Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and saw us increase our vote by the largest share since 1945," he said.

"Labour won people over on a programme for the many not the few - redistributing wealth and power, taking vital resources into public ownership, investing in every region and nation, and tackling climate change.

"The Tories are bungling Brexit while Labour has set out a unifying and credible alternative plan. When millions face the misery of Universal Credit, rising crime, homelessness and poverty, now more than ever is the time to bring people together to build a better future for us all."