The former leader of Britain’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, announced yesterday he was in talks to start a new political party because Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government had ‘refused to deliver the change’ voters expected during its first year in office.
Corbyn, an avowed socialist who took control of the party in 2015, was its most left-wing leader in a generation, with plans for a sweeping programme of nationalisation. He resigned as Labour leader after the 2019 election when the party suffered its worst defeat since 1935.
Labour subsequently suspended Corbyn in 2020 and then expelled him from the party following a report into how complaints about antisemitism in the party were handled under his leadership.
Corbyn’s plans to create a new political party could further divide Labour’s traditional left-wing support at a time when the prime minister is haemorrhaging support and the century-long dominance of Britain’s two big parties is in jeopardy.
“The democratic foundation of a new kind of political party will take shape soon,” Corbyn said on X. “Discussions are ongoing – and I am excited to work alongside all communities to fight for the future people deserve.”
The announcement that Labour could face a new threat from a left came after the party suffered its most bruising week in government when it was forced to abandon key planks of planned welfare reform, which blew a hole in its budget plans.
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