An insurgent threat to Labour was teetering on the brink of chaos today as its launch descended into squabbling.
Zarah Sultana dramatically quit Labour last night and declared she would be ‘co-leading’ a new left-wing party with Jeremy Corbyn.
The ardent pro-Palestinian MP is a long-term critic of Keir Starmer, and was already sitting as an independent after being stripped of the whip.
But it seems the move caught Mr Corbyn by surprise, with the former Labour leader said to be ‘furious and bewildered’.
He finally commented on the development this afternoon to insist ‘discussions are ongoing’ – saying Ms Sultana would ‘help us build a new alternative’ but seemingly stopping short of endorsing her as a ‘co-leader’.
There also appears to be no decision on what the name of the new party would be, with options mooted including ‘Real Change’ and ‘Peace and Justice Project’.
Mr Corbyn has been hinting strongly that he wants to form a new party – with polls suggesting it could attract 10 per cent of the left-wing vote and inflict major damage on Labour.
In an interview on Wednesday the 76-year-old claimed there was a ‘thirst’ among voters ‘for an alternative view to be put’.
Zarah Sultana dramatically quit Labour last night and declared she would be ‘co-leading’ a new party with Jeremy Corbyn (pictured)
The ardent pro-Palestinian MP is a long-term critic of Keir Starmer , and was already sitting as an independent after being stripped of the whip
Mr Corbyn finally commented on the development this afternoon to insist ‘discussions are ongoing’ – saying Ms Sultana would ‘help us build a new alternative’ but seemingly stopping short of endorsing her as a ‘co-leader’
Posting on X last night, Ms Sultana that she was ‘resigning from the Labour Party’
Mr Corbyn has sat as the independent MP for Islington North since being suspended by Labour in 2020 for downplaying the extent of anti-Semitism in the party under his leadership.
He was expelled last year but retained his seat in the general election, since when he has been part of the Independent Alliance, a loose grouping of independent MPs with left wing political views.
Posting on X last night, Ms Sultana that she was ‘resigning from the Labour Party’.
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 said that ‘Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper’ and the ‘two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises’.
‘A year ago I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and list 400,000 children out of poverty,’ the former Labour MP added. I’d do it again. I voted against scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners. I’d do it again.
‘Now, the Government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can’t decide how much.’
Polls suggesting a left-wing party led by Mr Corbyn it could attract 10 per cent of the left-wing vote and inflict major damage on Sir Keir (pictured yesterday)
Appearing on ITV’s Peston on Wednesday – after opposing plans to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group – he said he was working with groups ‘all around the country’
‘That grouping will come together. There will be an alternative view and there will be an alternative put there which is about a society that deals with poverty, inequality and a foreign policy that’s based on peace rather than war,’ he said.
Asked if he would like to lead the party he said: ‘I’m here to work, I’m here to serve the people in the way I’ve always tried to do.’
