Update – Friday 4 July:
Jeremy Corbyn has acknowledged Zarah Sultana’s departure from Labour in a post on X, stating that he will work together with her and others to build a real alternative to the government.
“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,” Corbyn 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.”
The original article continues below.
MP Zarah Sultana has announced that she is quitting Labour to form a new political party with independent MP Jeremy Corbyn.
In a social media post published on Thursday 3 July, Sultana announced her resignation from the Labour party and said she and Jeremy Corbyn would co-lead a new party formed of other independent MPs, campaigners, and activists across the country.
Sultana was previously suspended from the Labour party for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap and for opposing the government’s plan to cut winter fuel payments for pensioners. Starmer later walked back the restrictions on winter fuel payments and expanded eligibility to more pensioners.
In a statement announcing her resignation and the formation of a new party, Sultana cited the government’s proposed changes to disability benefits and the failure of the two-party system as reasons for her decision.
She also attacked the government’s stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict, echoing ongoing criticisms made by Corbyn and other independent MPs.
“Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives. And across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists,” she said.
“But the truth is clear: this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.”
A core purpose of her and Corbyn’s new party, she said, would be to tackle the rising economic inequality in Britain.
“Just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population. Poverty is growing, inequality is obscene, and the two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises,” she said.
“We are not an island of strangers; we’re an island that’s suffering. We need homes and lives we can actually afford, not rip-off bills we pay every month to a tiny elite bathing in cash.”
“Billionaires already have three parties fighting for them. It’s time the rest of us had one,” she added.
If Sultana’s late-night X post on Thursday signals the official launch of a new left-wing party that aims to take on Labour and the growing threat proposed by Reform, its launch has not exactly been ideally coordinated.
At the time of publication, Jeremy Corbyn had stayed publicly silent on the announcement, neither confirming or commenting on the statement published by Sultana.
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