"break away" vs "break out"

[Woden]

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #148 "Idioms with the phrasal verb break", question 9

A rebel Labour Party MP recently decided to ......... from his party and become an independent member for his electorate.

(a) break off
(b) break away
(c) break out
(d) break up

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #148 "Idioms with the phrasal verb break", answer 9

A rebel Labour Party MP recently decided to break away from his party and become an independent member for his electorate.

Correct answer: (b) break away

Your answer was: incorrect
A rebel Labour Party MP recently decided to break out from his party and become an independent member for his electorate.
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why can't we use break out here, as we can say according to the sentence, the MP is breaking out of his party and forming a new one.

Woden

[Alan]

Hi,

'Break out' can have a violent meaning as in 'prisoners breaking out from a prison/ escaping' It can also be used intransitively to suggest appearing suddenly as of diseases breaking out. 'Break away' is the best choice in the test sentence because it gives the idea of separating from/cutting your links with.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/run