Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he is in discussions about forming a new left-wing political party, a day after the MP Zarah Sultana announced she was leaving Labour to co-lead the project. In a statement on X, the former Labour leader said the “democratic foundations of a new kind of political party will soon take shape”.
Mr Corbyn, who was blocked from standing for Labour at the last general election and suspended from the party in 2020 over his response to an antisemitism report, said he was “excited to work alongside all communities to fight for the future people deserve”. He congratulated Ms Sultana on her “principled decision” to leave Labour and said she would “help us build a real alternative”.
Ms Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, had the Labour whip suspended last year for voting against the government on the two-child benefit limit. In her own statement on Thursday night, she said Westminster was “broken” and that the two-party system offered “nothing but managed decline and broken promises”.
Mr Corbyn is understood to be reluctant to take the title of party leader, preferring collective decision-making. Her announcement took some on the left by surprise and was seen by some as premature. John McDonnell and Diane Abbott have both said they will not join the new party.
Ms Sultana’s departure makes her the sixth member of the Independent Alliance of non-party-aligned MPs, giving the group a larger presence in the Commons than the Greens or Plaid Cymru. Polling by More in Common suggests a left-wing bloc focused on Gaza, poverty and the cost of living could attract about 10% of Labour’s 2019 supporters in urban seats.
Reform UK figures welcomed the prospect of a further split in the left-wing vote, while the Green party has stepped up its social media campaigns targeting disgruntled left-wing voters. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, dismissed Ms Sultana’s criticisms of the government and declined to say whether she was concerned about the new party posing a threat to Labour.
