Labour party figures have criticised seven MPs who have quit and formed a new group but dismissed concerns it may impact local council elections.

The seven MPs announced their breakaway this morning, saying that they could no longer remain in a party which is "sickeningly institutionally antisemitic" and claiming that mainstream politics was broken.

The MPs are: Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey.

Cllr Vince Maple, opposition Labour group leader on Medway Council and vice chairman of the party’s South East region, said the seven should consider standing down and put themselves forward for re-election.

He said: “It is a matter for them. They need to think carefully about their own integrity - they stood on a manifesto in 2017 which they all supported."

He said the split would not affect the party’s campaign in the forthcoming May council elections.

He added that the seven could also become the subject of challenges by constituents under “power of recall” legislation passed in 2015.

Labour county councillor Karen Constantine said: “I am disappointed that they have chosen to do this at this particular time. History shows us that breakaway parties do not succeed.”

However, she acknowledged that the MPs did reflect the challenge faced by all parties to connect with voters. “We are living through a fractious time in politics and we all have to think how we can address that concern.”

The announcement was not ideal ahead of the forthcoming council elections, she added.

“It is another issue that we will have to address on the doorstep but in my experience people will vote on the concerns they have about local issues and who will help them most,” she said.

Medway Labour councillor Alex Paterson criticised the seven-strong group, tweeting: “Watching this lot outline their non-manifesto, believing they can triangulate their way to relevance, is like watching Austin Powers get reanimated from his 1960s cryogenic capsule - except they all seem to think it’s still 1994.”

Naushabah Khan, who represents Gillingham South ward and is a former parliamentary candidate in Rochester and Strood, was also critical.

She tweeted: “No time for anyone who breaks away from @UKLabour - #labourandproud".

Meanwhile, Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling aired his support for one of the seven MPs via Twitter.

He said: "There will be many views about @UKLabour’s split.

"I won’t comment in detail but when I see @MikeGapes, a man of the highest integrity and decency speaking with passion about serious wrongs tolerated by the leadership of a major political party, you have to ask what’s going on."

The seven MPs held a press conference today at which Chuka Umunna said they had "taken the first step" and urged other Labour MPs - and members of other parties - to join them in "building a new politics".

He said: "Politics is broken, it doesn't have to be this way. Let's change it.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was disappointed by the split.

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ANALYSIS by our political editor Paul Francis:

It was not quite a political earthquake. But the tremors resulting from Labour’s breakaway group of seven MPs may yet prove far-reaching.

The carefully staged press conference by the group of seven was characterised by each of the MPs declaring that they had come to their decision with great reluctance and sadness - a bit like a divorcing couple striving to mask over more deep seated relationship issues.

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was also restrained, saying he was disappointed but pointedly referred to their unwillingness to continue to support policies the party had adopted at the election and had “inspired millions.”

Reaction among party loyalists was less diplomatic and some Kent figures made plain their hostility to the departing seven, calling them self-indulgent and suggesting they stand for re-election.

Inevitably, there was a commitment by the new party to do politics differently because the current system was broken; a familiar refrain from breakaway parties - and a slogan that has echoes of UKIP and its appeal to stand up for those who felt disenfranchised by Westminster. The split also reinforces a view that for all its efforts, Labour has not persuaded everyone that it has really addressed the issues of racism and anti-Semitism that have blighted it for so long.

One of the immediate consequences of the breakaway group is that it has overshadowed the internal divisions in the Conservative party over Brexit.

This is not to say the Labour party doesn’t have its own divisions. But the beleaguered Prime Minister, shuttling to and from Brussels to try to persuade the EU to come up with a deal she can sell to Parliament, can only be thankful for a brief respite from the spotlight.

No surprise that the Conservative party chairman put out a statement that “Labour has become the Jeremy Corbyn Party, failing to take action on everything from tackling anti-Jewish racism to keeping our country safe.”

In Kent, where Labour has just one MP, the split comes at an awkward time with council elections round the corner.

It is doubtful that it will impact on core supporters but it may influence those who are not tribal party loyalists.

They may choose to stay at home rather than be persuaded to go to the polling station, potentially depriving the party of the chance of being able to say that it has the momentum it needs ahead of a general election.