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Founded | 24 July 2025 |
Political position | Left-wing |
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On 24 July 2025, former Labour Party and now independent MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana announced that they were forming a new left-wing political party in the United Kingdom, known by the interim name of Your Party. A permanent name for the party is yet to be decided.
The party is supported by the Independent Alliance, a group of six independent MPs in the House of Commons, which Sultana joined in July 2025. Other key figures involved include Karie Murphy (Corbyn's former chief of staff), former Labour MP Beth Winter, former Labour Mayor of the North of Tyne Jamie Driscoll, and former National Assembly of South Africa member Andrew Feinstein.
During the pre-launch phase of the party there have been disputes between the party's co-founders regarding the collection of membership fees. A founding conference based on a sortition process is planned for November 2025.
Jeremy Corbyn was for many years a member of the Labour Party. First elected as a Labour Member of Parliament at the 1983 United Kingdom general election, he served as the Labour leader from 2015 until 2020, when he resigned and Keir Starmer was elected to replace him. Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party in October 2020, following his reaction to a report into antisemitism. [1] In December 2020, Corbyn announced the Peace & Justice Project, with Pamela Fitzpatrick becoming its co-director.
Former Corbyn spokesman and a co-founder of the Momentum organisation, James Schneider, published Our Bloc: How We Win in 2022, which proposed the creation of a new party on the left of Labour. [2] In late 2023, Fitzpatrick, academic Justin Schlosberg (who left the new organisation in autumn 2024) and Corbyn's former chief of staff, Karie Murphy, formed Collective, an organisation bringing together various left-wing groups and independents, [2] with the stated intention to "drive the formation of a new, mass-membership political party of the left in the UK". [3] Collective was involved in supporting the campaigns of several independent candidates, including Fitzpatrick (in Harrow West), Andrew Feinstein (in Holborn and St Pancras, standing against Starmer), and Leanne Mohamad (in Ilford North), in the in the 2024 United Kingdom general election. [2]
Having been suspended from the Labour Party, Corbyn was unable to stand as a Labour candidate in the 2024 general election in Islington North. He stood as an independent and was thus expelled from Labour. [4] He won re-election. He then formed a parliamentary group, the Independent Alliance, with four independent MPs who were elected on pro-Gaza platforms. Labour won the election overall, with Starmer becoming Prime Minister. The Financial Times said that there has been anger among the left about the Labour Party shifting to the right under Starmer's premiership. [5]
Discussions were held in autumn 2024 involving Corbyn and senior members of Collective like Murphy, as well as former mayor Jamie Driscoll (leader of the Majority party), Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman (leader of Aspire) and others. [2] At the time, it was reported the intention was to create a party called "Collective". [6] Politics Home reported one idea for the leadership group was to be Corbyn, Rahman, Feinstein and Salma Yaqoob, the former Respect Party leader. In December 2024, The Spectator said that the Independent Alliance was likely to form a political party in 2025. [7] According to The Spectator, three of the members, Shockat Adam, Adnan Hussain and Ayoub Khan, were in favour of the creation of a political party to build momentum, but Corbyn was more hesitant. [7] By 2025, Collective involved groups including Aspire, Just Stop Oil, The Muslim Vote, the Socialist Party, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), Liverpool Community Independents and more independent councillors. [3] [2]
Zarah Sultana had been elected as a Labour Party MP in 2024, but subsequently had had the whip suspended. She also became involved in discussions towards a new party. [2]
At the start of July 2025, an online meeting of an organising committee was convened by Salma Yaqoob, bringing together various socialists. [2] [8] The discussions included Corbyn and his allies in Collective, as well as Sultana. [2] A vote was passed in favour of forming a party co-led by Corbyn and Sultana. Corbyn and his allies had abstained, as they wished to wait until a conference setting up a new party was held to vote on the leadership. [8]
On 3 July 2025, Sultana announced online that she was leaving Labour and planned to create a new political party with Corbyn and other independents. [a] [9] Iqbal Mohamed of the Independent Alliance supported her comments on social media. [10] Corbyn confirmed there were ongoing discussions around forming a new party. [11] Corbyn had not been expecting the announcement, [12] [9] [13] and it reportedly "frustrated" him. [9] According to The Times , Corbyn had not agreed to Sultana's statement, and had implored her to delete it after posting. [8]
On 24 July 2025, initially via a post on X, Corbyn and Sultana launched a website where people could sign up and inviting supporters to an inaugural conference. Promotion referred to "Your Party – and the new party that develops from it". The "Your Party" name was picked up in the media. [14] [15] [16] However, Sultana tweeted in response, "It's not called Your Party!", and it has been described as an interim name. [17] [18] The other members of the Independent Alliance expressed support for the creation of a new party, and welcomed Sultana to the group. [19] [20]
Corbyn said that more than 80,000 people signed up to the party's mailing list in the first five hours, [21] and the party said it was over 300,000 by 25 July. [22] In less than a week, the party had received over 600,000 sign-ups. [23] As of 22 August, the party says it has over 800,000 sign-ups, [24] including over 23,000 in Wales, [25] and over 40,000 in Scotland. [26] BBC News said that the party seems likely to be established in time for the 2026 local elections. [17] Sky News reported that the party had about 200 councillors already involved, some of whom had come from existing independent groups. [21] Multiple former councillors, including former Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council Leader Hedley McCarthy, have joined the party. [27] [21] The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has been involved in discussions for the new party and has offered to hand over its Electoral Commission registration. [28]
In late July 2025, six members of Hastings Borough Council and a member of Islington London Borough Council joined the party after resigning from the Labour Party. [29] In August one councillor from Coventry City Council and Cambridge City Council resigned from Labour to join the party, [30] [31] [32] alongside a suspended Labour councillor on Preston City Council announcing she would join the party. [33] In late August, Corbyn met with independent councillors in Oldham. [34]
The inaugural conference is due to be held in November 2025, following a number of regional assemblies and delegates will be selected by lottery. Membership will open in September and in October, there will be an online poll to decide the party's name. [35] [36] An online form asking for suggestions for a name opened on 26 August. [37]
Ahead of the conference, it was reported that senior figures in the party were splitting into factions. One of the factions, which includes Driscoll, Feinstein and Roger Hallam (founder of Extinction Rebellion), is opposed to building a party straight away, instead arguing for an alliance involving various independent groups; [38] towards a "federal approach" made up of a range of grassroots movements. The other faction takes a "party first" approach, establishing a "cohesive, unified party", [38] and working out the grassroots details later. [39] This latter camp involves figures connected to Collective, the organisation which played a large part in establishing the party, including Murphy and Fitzpatrick. Corbyn is closer to the Collective group, but in an August 2025 article, journalist Megan Kenyon reported that his ideas for how Your Party should operate are closer to the Driscoll/Feinstein group's. Likewise, Sultana is more aligned with the Driscoll/Feinstein group, but her ideas for the party are closer to the Collective faction's. [39] Other figures, including Corbyn's former communications director James Schneider and Corbyn's senior advisor Andrew Murray, have argued for different models. [38]
Corbyn is thought to align with this group, and although Sultana is close to figures involved, she aligns with the other faction. [39]
Mark Serwotka, the former General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, and former Labour MP Claudia Webbe have stated that they have joined the party. [40] [41]
A dispute also emerged within the party over its approach to trans rights in September, after Adnan Hussain publicly agreed with a social media user who said that the fledgling party shouldn't “parrot the same neoliberal idea of gender ideology” and themselves called for third spaces for trans people. [42] Sultana later without naming Hussain publicly stated that "trans rights are human rights. Your Party will defend them. No ifs, no buts, and I won’t let anyone get in the way of this fight." [43] Some insiders reportedly believed that the dispute exposed deeper disagreements regarding the party's attitude towards socially conservative voters. [44] Corbyn has not taken a stance over whether there should be a zero tolerance approach to allowing such views in the party, [44] although Corbyn is supportive of transgender rights. [45]
On 18 September, Zarah Sultana and her team sent out a formal membership invitation by email to those who had expressed interest in the new party, and saw more than 22,000 sign up, which suggested the party could have raised over £1 million if all had paid for the £55 annual membership. [46] [47] Sultana announced the membership launch on her social media and attributed rumours about it being fake to "right-wing bad faith actors". [48] [49] On her account on X, Sultana posted a new sign-up URL for a membership portal on a different domain to the party's main website. [50] [49]
Within hours, the other five members of the Independent Alliance released a joint statement that urged supporters to ignore the "unauthorised email" and cancel any direct debits, and declared that legal advice was being taken. [48] [46] [47] [51] [52] [49] The statement was posted by Corbyn on X and circulated by email. [48] Another statement posted on the official Your Party X account stated that the data controller had reported the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office. [46] In her counter-statement on X, Sultana said that she had acted "in line with the roadmap set out to members" and "to safeguard the grassroots involvement" after having been "sidelined by the MPs named in [the] statement", adding that Your Party was being run as a "sexist boys' club" due to a lack of gender balance on the party's Working Group. [47] [51] [46] She also alleged that Corbyn's former chief of staff Karie Murphy had been handed "sole financial control", [46] and informed that membership fees were received by the company MoU Operations Ltd, created for this purpose in April, in which Corbyn and his team had no direct involvement. [47] [53] [49] Sultana urged Corbyn to meet with her to discuss the dispute and to make all agreements public. [47] [48] At the annual conference of the Peace and Justice Project on 20 September, Corbyn defended Murphy, saying he was "appalled" when people attacked her. [54]
PoliticsHome reported that a split was now "inevitable" according to "several" party sources [47] while some external observers speculated about the collapse of the project. [55] [56] Those of Corbyn's allies who spoke to BBC News and to the Middle East Eye did not believe reconciliation was likely but claimed that the party building process would follow the agreed schedule, with key decisions left to members at the November conference, [53] [55] while The Independent reported that insiders expected the dispute resolution to require time [57] and Sky News said mediation efforts were under way. [52] Corbyn's former policy director Andrew Fisher and The Guardian journalist Owen Jones both warned that a prolonged dispute would lead to a transfer of support to the Green Party, [53] [46] and former Corbyn spokesman Matt Zarb-Cousin called on Corbyn and Sultana to both join the Green Party. [52] The Guardian reported on the following day that the "public split" contributed to a "surge" in the Green Party membership, with the party gaining over 1,400 members in 24 hours. [58]
On 19 September, Sultana wrote she had instructed defamation lawyers to take action against the authors of "false and defamatory statements" concerning her launch of the membership portal, and described the "attacks" as "baseless" and "politically-motivated". [59] On 20 September, Jamie Driscoll, Andrew Feinstein and Beth Winter, the directors of MoU Operations, published a letter saying they had "tried to mediate between Jeremy and Zarah for some weeks" and "demanded a meeting [to which one side had] not responded despite multiple attempts", and promising to communicate a mechanism for refunds. [60] On 21 September, Sultana announced in a further statement she would desist from legal action "as an act of good faith" and was "determined to reconcile" during ongoing talks with Corbyn. [61]
On 19 September, a group of organisers claiming to represent the grassroots of the party, calling themselves 'Our Party', mounted an attempt to take over the organisation. They released a statement and open letter calling for the appointment of an independent handover team separate from the current factions at the helm of the party, which would hold an election for a 'committee of founding stewards'. The group said that the six MPs involved would be barred from campaigning. [62] [63] As of 20 September, the open letter had over 4,000 signatures. [64] Sultana posted on social media in support of the open letter, saying that a popular takeover was "what [she had] been fighting for from the start". [65] [66]
On 23 September, the Guardian reported that Corbyn and Sultana were preparing a new attempt to launch the membership for the party, but without a joint statement nor unified line. [67] Insiders suggested that relations were cordial, but Corbyn felt a "complete lack of trust" towards Sultana. [67]
On 24 September, Corbyn announced the launch of the official membership portal for the party, based on the same domain as the party's original website; [68] [69] though it has not been made clear whether the 20,000+ who joined the party previously would have their membership carried over. [70] According to the site's privacy policy page, all membership fees will be processed by Your Party UK Ltd. [71] As of 24 September 2025 [update] , the Sultana membership website was still up, but no longer processing applications. [72] [ better source needed ]
The conference is planned to be held on 29 and 30 November at the ACC in Liverpool. The party expects 13,000 members to be selected via sortition to participate in the conference. [70]
An inaugural conference is planned to decide the party's policies, but in a joint statement on the launch website, [73] Corbyn and Sultana mentioned wealth redistribution, nationalisation, investing in social housing and opposing the privatisation of the National Health Service. The party is expected to call for action against climate change and protection of the right to protest. [17] Following the launch, Corbyn also stressed a focus on grassroots organisation. [17]
The party is expected to be significantly more critical of Israel compared to Labour, [17] with its founding platform setting out Your Party's opposition to selling arms to the Israeli military. [74] A former Labour councillor, Amna Abdullatif, stated that support for the Gaza Strip will be central to the party. [75] In an interview in August 2025, Sultana claimed that Corbyn, when he was Labour leader, had "capitulated" in adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, [13] [76] arguing that the definition equates antisemitism with anti-Zionism. [77] Following commentary around these statements, Sultana posted to social media that she was an anti-Zionist. [13] Her comments were criticised by Jewish organisations, including the Board of Deputies and Campaign Against Antisemitism. [76] [78] [77] Responding, in a separate interview, Corbyn suggested it was "not really necessary" to "bring all that up", [79] and said that he was more in favour of the Jerusalem Declaration. [80]
Interviewed alongside Jamie Driscoll at the Majority conference in September 2025, Sultana named "beating Reform" as the party's "most important goal for the [following] four years". [81]
The Daily Telegraph reported on 25 July that Corbyn and his allies were in the process of forming a steering committee for the new party, which would operate independently from the Peace & Justice Project, a campaign movement led by Corbyn. [82] The six Independent Alliance MPs are overseeing the founding of the party. [2] On 31 July, Your Party UK Ltd was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, with Adnan Hussain as company secretary, and the other five members of the Independent Alliance as directors; on 15 September, Corbyn was removed as the person with significant control. [83] [57]
Former Labour MP Beth Winter, former Labour Mayor of the North of Tyne Jamie Driscoll, and former National Assembly of South Africa member Andrew Feinstein are directors of the company MoU Operations, formed in April 2025, which manages the data gathered by the Your Party website. [27] [47]
The party is planning on launching its first Scottish branch in Glasgow in September. [24] There are discussions about trades unions possibly affiliating. [2]
All six members of the Independent Alliance have expressed an intention to sit for the new party in the UK House of Commons. [84] The party is also attempting to convince a number of sitting Labour MPs, including those from the Socialist Campaign Group, to defect and join the party. [85] [2]
Polling carried out by YouGov in July 2025 found that 18% of the electorate would be open to consider voting for a new party led by Corbyn. [86] Another poll carried out by Ipsos in August found that 20% of voters considered themselves very or fairly likely to back the new party, while 31% would be open to voting for a united ticket between the new party and the Green Party. [87] [88] In hypothetical voting intention polls, over July and August, the party polled between 4% [89] and 15%. [90]
That includes children in poverty being denied their right to food and clothing. That includes trans people, who deserve to live in safety, dignity, and freedom.
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