An outspoken former Labour MP has said that she will co-lead a new party with Jeremy Corbyn — although he is yet to clarify his role.
Serial rebel Zarah Sultana – who had the Labour whip suspended last year – announced yesterday that she is resigning from Sir Keir Starmer’s party and joining forces with the ex-Labour leader.
In a statement on Facebook, the Coventry South MP said that ‘Westminster is broken’ and the party will also involve ‘other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country’.
However, Mr Corbyn was said to be ‘furious and bewildered at the way it has been launched without his consultation.’
Sunday Times political journalist Gabriel Pogrund reported that Mr Corbyn, now an Independent, had not agreed to join the new party.
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The MP said on social media later today that ‘discussions are ongoing’ about forming the party and congratulated his former colleague ‘on her principled decision to leave the Labour party.’
The party does not yet have a name — but is taking donations.
Whatever the veteran campaigners come up with, it adds to a mounting in-tray of problems at Westminster for the prime minister, whose party is widely viewed as disunited by the public.
What do we know about the new party?
Ms Sultana says that the new party will be on the side of people struggling to pay bills and access public services, although no specific policies are mentioned in her statements so far.
There’s no question that it will be on the left of Sir Keir’s Labour party, with the MP writing: ‘In 2029, the choice will be stark: socialism or barbarism.’
‘Billionaires already have three parties fighting for them.
‘It’s time the rest of us had one.’
The Birmingham-born MP has already launched an online donation form for her ‘people-powered campaign’, saying she doesn’t have ‘the Tories’ billionaire donors or press baron friends.’
Mr Corbyn has yet to confirm the plans.
Who is Zarah Sultana?
Ms Sultana is the Independent MP for Coventry South after being a Labour MP continuously since December 12, 2019.
Soon after being elected the first time round, she explained her anti-elitist views in the Metro, including how she didn’t realise how many gifts politicians were sent until she became an MP.
‘We need to end the ability of the rich to buy influence, and the only way to truly do that is stop wealth from being concentrated in the hands of the tiny few, and start standing up for those who truly need it,’ she said.
In July last year she was one of seven MPs who had the Labour whip suspended by Sir Keir after an amendment to the King’s Speech which related to the two-child benefit cap. Four of the seven had the whip restored earlier this year but Ms Sultana was not among them.
She remained defiant in light of the disciplinary action, saying ‘I will always stand up for the most vulnerable in our society.’
Ms Sultana’s family moved from Kashmir to the West Midlands, with her grandad being one of the workers who helped make the region a powerhouse in the motor industry.
She became involved in political activism at university and also worked in retail on her way to Westminster.
Why did Ms Sultana quit Labour?
Ms Sultana was unrepentant after having the whip removed and has stood by her position ever since.
In the statement, she said: ‘A year ago, I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and lift 400,000 children out of poverty. 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.’
She is also at loggerheads with the party over Palestine, writing: ‘And across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.
‘But the truth is clear: This government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.’
Who is Jeremy Corbyn?
Mr Corbyn led Labour from 2015 to April 2020, stepping down after the party’s loss at the 2019 general election.
He was suspended from Labour in 2020 after he refused to fully accept the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s findings that the party broke equality law when he was in charge, and said antisemitism had been ‘dramatically overstated for political reasons’.
He was blocked from standing for Labour at last year’s general election and expelled in the spring of 2024 after announcing he would stand as an independent candidate in his Islington North constituency, which he won with a majority of more than 7,000.
Last year, Mr Corbyn formed the Independent Alliance with other independent members of the Commons.
Asked on ITV’s Peston programme on Wednesday whether that group could turn into an official party, Mr Corbyn said that they have ‘worked very hard and very well together’ over the last year in Parliament.
He added: ‘There is a thirst for an alternative view to be put…That grouping will come together, there will be an alternative.’
However, in a 110-word post on Facebook today, Mr Corbyn appeared to be aligning with Ms Sultana’s new party.
‘Real change is coming,’ he 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.’
Mr Corbyn also congratulated to his former colleague ‘on her principled decision to leave the Labour Party.’
‘I am delighted that she will help us build a real alternative,’ he said.
‘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.
‘Together, we can create something that is desperately missing from our broken political system: hope.’
Should Sir Keir Starmer be worried?
It’s early days but the defection will be another headache for the Prime Minister at a time when he is already under pressure on several fronts.
Ms Sultana’s move comes in the same week as he U-turned on plans for welfare reform in the face of a rebellion from Labour backbenchers.
John McDonnell, another of the suspended MPs who has not had the whip restored, posted on X that Labour has lost a ‘dedicated socialist’.
‘The people running Labour at the moment need to ask themselves why a young, articulate, talented, extremely dedicated socialist feels she now has no home in the Labour Party and has to leave,’ he said.
Ms Sultana’s rebellion also comes at a time when the polls show the British public overwhelmingly view Labour as divided.
When asked by YouGov if the party is united or divided, 70% went with the latter and just 6% the former.
Overall, 66% of people disapproved of the government’s record to date and just 14% approved, with the surveys having been conducted before Ms Sultana’s announcement about the new party.
It’s a gloomy picture for Sir Keir, although he has until 2029 to turn it around at the next General Election – unless his former party colleagues ensure his downfall ahead of time.
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