Zarah Sultana resigns from Labour to co-found new party with Jeremy Corbyn

LONDON

British MP Zarah Sultana announced her resignation Thursday from the Labour Party to co-lead the formation of a new political party alongside former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Sultana, who has represented her constituency Coventry South in the House of Commons as an independent MP since losing the Labour whip last year, revealed the move in a statement.

“I am 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.”

In her statement, Sultana delivered a scathing critique of the current state of British politics.

“Westminster is broken, but the real crisis is deeper. The two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises,” she said.

She cited her previous suspension from the Labour Party as a turning point, referencing her vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap -- a policy she said, if abolished, would have lifted 400,000 children out of poverty.

“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.”

Sultana ended her message with a call to action: “Join us.”

Speaking on ITV, Corbyn confirmed that discussions were taking place among members of the Independent Alliance group of MPs, which he co-founded last year.

Asked directly whether the group was preparing to form a new party, he did not rule it out.

“That grouping (of independents) will come together. There will be an alternative,” he said.

The Independent Alliance includes four other independent MPs – Shockat Adam (Leicester South), Ayoub Khan (Birmingham Perry Barr), Adnan Hussain (Blackburn) and Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) – all of whom defeated Labour candidates in recent by-elections, campaigning largely on the party’s stance on Gaza.

The group now has the same number of MPs as Reform UK and the Democratic Unionist Party, each with five, and more than both the Green Party and Plaid Cymru, which have four MPs apiece.

Corbyn, who has sat as an independent since being suspended by Labour leader Keir Starmer in 2020, has long hinted at launching a new platform focused on socialist policies and pro-Palestinian campaigning.

The move could split the left-of-center vote and pose a challenge for Labour, which has shifted toward the political center under Starmer’s leadership.

Outlining the potential priorities of any new party, Corbyn said it would focus on “poverty, inequality and a foreign policy that’s based on peace rather than war.”