Ousted Hong Kong lawmaker Lau Siu-lai has announced she and her organisation Democracy Groundwork will withdraw from the Labour Party, citing irresolvable issues.
“I always hoped to bring strength to the Labour Party and advance the response of the left to today’s rapidly changing situation, but unfortunately due to various complex problems, the desired outcome could not be achieved,” she wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening.
The pro-democracy politician thanked her party colleagues and said she and her group would continue to advocate for democracy and fight wealth inequality.
“Leaving the organisation does not mean cutting off from others, it simply means finding another way to cooperate with them on the basis of shared beliefs,” she added.
Lau, a lecturer at the Hong Kong Community College, rose to prominence after establishing the self-determination advocacy group Democracy Groundwork during the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement. She was voted onto the Legislative Council in 2016.
Lau was stripped of her status in the legislature in 2017 for improperly taking her oath of office. She joined the Labour Party in June 2018 along with her organisation but was barred from running in a by-election months later on the grounds that she would not “uphold the Basic Law.”
In May, she announced she would not take part in democratic primaries which were organised to select candidates to run in the now-postponed 2020 legislative election. Lau said she wanted to focus on work within the Labour Party and civil society organisations.
