Labour MPs attack party rule changes curbing links with anti-monarchy group

Graham Smith, the chief executive of Republic, at an anti-monarchy protest outside Westminster Abbey in London in March. Photograph: May James/Reuters

Labour MPs have spoken out in the run-up to the coronation against party rule changes that prevent constituency branches from affiliating with an anti-monarchy group.

Republic, a pressure group that campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy, was named on a list of 12 organisations sent in February by a party official and seen by the Guardian.