Jeremy Corbyn is to launch a new left-wing party which allies say will cause “massive headaches” for Sir Keir Starmer and Labour. The left-wing former Labour leader said: “Real change is coming.”
He confirmed “The democratic foundations of a new kind of political party will soon take shape. Discussions are ongoing – and I am excited to work alongside all communities to fight for the future people deserve.” But Mr Corbyn was privately “terribly unhappy” with fellow left-wing MP Zarah Sultana after she “jumped the gun” and announced on Thursday night that the pair were set to co-lead the new organisation, according to an ally.
Her statement came after a meeting with a group of independent MPs elected in 2024, who had agreed to work more closely together. However agreement had not been reached on the party’s name or, despite Ms Sultana’s claim, on who will lead it.
In a statement on X, Mr Corbyn said: “One year on from the election, this Labour Government has refused to deliver the change people expected and deserved. Poverty, inequality and war are not inevitable. Our country needs to change direction, now.
“Congratulations to Zarah Sultana on her principled decision to leave the Labour Party. I am delighted that she will help us build a real alternative.”
He added: “Together, we can create something that is desperately missing from our broken political system: hope.”
A Labour MP on the left who is close to Mr Corbyn said: “It will happen.
“They are trying to sort out who the leaders might be. There will be a left-wing party.”
The MP said it was unlikely that veteran left-wing colleagues on the Labour benches would defect, saying: “People have been Labour members for 40 or 50 years in some cases and I don’t think there is an appetite to jump ship.”
And they warned a new left-wing party would need backing from trade unions to survive.
But they said: “There is a real hunger for a left-wing party. People are fed up with two-party politics, with the Labour Party and the Conservatives, and that’s why Reform is doing so well. People want to see an alternative to what they see within the two mainstream parties, which they see as very much the same.
“People are genuinely disappointed in the Labour Party, that promised change but has given them something not too far way from the last 14 years of austerity. People are stranded.”
Labour had more than 600,000 members under Mr Corbyn’s leadership but half have left, creating a potential army of activists if they could be persuaded to join a new party, the left-winger said.
Polling by More in Common last month found a new Corbyn-led party would immediately win the support of 10% of voters and reduce Labour’s share from 23% to 20%. The party would finish first among 18 to 24-year-olds, with the support of 32%, the survey found.
Mr Corbyn’s supporters point out Labour won more votes in the 2017 and 2019 elections under his leadership, and a higher share of the vote in 2017, than the party received in last year’s election with Keir Starmer in charge.
The former Labour leader was suspended by Sir Keir Starmer before the last election, and won in his Islington North seat as an independent.
Ms Sultana, MP for Coventry South, was a Labour MP before losing the whip last year for voting against the Government over the two-child benefit cap. However she remained a member of the Labour Party itself until her resignation on Thursday, when she said: “Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country.”
She claimed that the Government “wants to make disabled people suffer”, in reference to proposals to remove benefits from some people with disabilities.
