Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana have reached agreement over the launch of a new leftwing party after weeks of discussions, sending out a joint statement encouraging would-be supporters to register their interest.
The new movement has yet to be named but has an interim website under the moniker of Your party. In a statement on X, the two former Labour MPs appealed described it as “a new kind of political party, one that belongs to you”.
“The system is rigged when 4.5 million children live in poverty in the sixth-richest country in the world,” it said. “The system is rigged when giant corporations make a fortune from rising bills. The system is rigged when the government says there is no money for the poor, but billions for war. We cannot accept these injustices, and neither should you.”
The posts contain a link to a Your party website, leading to a page for people to sign up. The website said: “Soon, we’ll host an inaugural founding conference so you can help shape how your party works, what it stands for, and how we organise to win.”
Sultana said “Your party” was only a temporary name. After a politics website said that was its name, she replied on X: “It’s not called Your Party!”
According to the website’s data privacy policy, it is managed by the Peace and Justice Project, an organisation Corbyn set up. The PJP currently manages the mailing list for the new party, but it is understood that the list will be merged with an earlier one launched by Sultana once the new party is formally constituted.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Corbyn said the founding conference would hopefully take place in mid-autumn but that a date had yet to be fixed.
After some earlier apparent mix-ups between him and Sultana over the new party, Corbyn said they were working very well together and in regular contact.
Calling the populism of Reform UK “a road to danger”, he said : “What we’re offering instead is to bring people together so we collectively face the issues of poverty, the issues about bad housing, the issues of underfunded education, so we face those issues together.”
The announcement ends a period of uncertainty that began in early June when Sultana, who became the Labour MP for Coventry South in 2019 but lost the whip shortly after last year’s election, said she was quitting the party to co-lead a new movement with Corbyn.
This appeared to come as a surprise to Corbyn, the former Labour leader who lost the whip in 2020 but was re-elected last year as the MP for Islington North on an independent ticket. At the time of Sultana’s announcement, he had not committed to the idea of a new party, or agreed that the pair should be co-leaders.
Sultana launched a fundraising drive and supporter sign-up page under her own name later in June, when Corbyn said only that discussions were ongoing on what would happen next. He confirmed that he and Sultana were in talks about a new party at the start of this month.
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The joint statement on Thursday said the party would push for “a mass redistribution of wealth and power”, involving more taxation of the rich and public ownership of energy and water companies, and rail and postal services.
On Gaza, the statement said the new party would demand an end to arms sales to Israel and “defend the right to protest against genocide”.
“The great dividers want you to think that the problems in our society are caused by migrants or refugees,” it said. “They’re not. They are caused by an economic system that protects the interests of corporations and billionaires.
“It’s time for a new kind of political party. One that is rooted in our communities, trade unions and social movements. One that builds power in all regions and nations. One that belongs to you.”
Polling has suggested that the new party could gain about 10% of the vote, damaging the electoral prospects of Labour and the Greens. Labour sources, however, have been dismissive of the threat from Corbyn, who lost the 2017 and 2019 elections as party leader.
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