Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana set up new political party to ‘take on the rich and powerful’
Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he is setting up a new political party with former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, vowing to “build a democratic movement that can take on the rich and powerful – and win”.
In a post on X, the former Labour leader said he was founding the new party, which is being referred to currently as Your Party, to tackle injustices.
A joint statement from him and Sultana said:
The system is rigged. The system is rigged when 4.5 million children live in poverty in the sixth richest country in the world. The system is rigged when giant corporations make a fortune from rising bills. The system is rigged when this government says there is no money for the poor, but billions for war.
We cannot accept these injustices – and neither should you. We will only fix the crises in our society with a mass redistribution of wealth and power. That means taxing the very richest in our society. That means an NHS free from privatisation and bringing energy, water, rail and mail into public ownership. That means investing in a massive council-house building programme. That means standing up to fossil fuel giants putting their profits before our planet.
Meanwhile, millions of people are horrified by the government’s complicity in crimes against humanity. Now, more than ever, we must defend the right to protest against genocide. We believe in the radical idea that all human life has equal value. That is why we will keep demanding an end to all arms sales to Israel, and for the only path to peace: a free and independent Palestine.
Our movement is made up of people of all faiths and none. The great dividers want you to think that the problems in our society are caused by migrants or refugees. They’re not. They are caused by an economic system that protects the interests of corporations and billionaires. It is ordinary people who create the wealth – and it is ordinary people who have the power to put it back where it belongs.
It’s time for a new kind of political party. One that is rooted in our communities, trade unions and social movements. One that builds power in all regions and nations. One that belongs to you.
He added that there will be an inaugural conference following the “founding process” and the party’s website is already taking donations.
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Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he is setting up a new political party with former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, vowing to “build a democratic movement that can take on the rich and powerful – and win”. In a post on X, the former Labour leader said he was founding the new party, which is being referred to currently as Your Party, to tackle injustices.
Corbyn indicated that the inaugural conference for the new party he is launching will “hopefully” take place in the coming months. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Corbyn said: “That will hopefully be mid-autumn time, but we haven’t fixed the date for that yet.”
Keir Starmer described the signing of a trade agreement between Britain and India as a “historic day”. As the prime minister met with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the country estate Chequers, Starmer said they had agreed in autumn to make a “step change” in the two countries’ relationship.
Starmer said the UK-India agreement was “the biggest and most economically significant” trade deal Britain has made since Brexit. The prime minister said: “Look, we both know this is the biggest and most economically significant trade deal that the UK has made since leaving the EU.”
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said the UK-India trade deal was a “blueprint for our shared prosperity”. He said: “Today marks a historic day in our bilateral relations. I am pleased to note that after many years of hard work, the comprehensive economic and trade agreement between our two countries has been concluded today.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has called for the Royal Air Force to carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza. “Aid delivered by the air is no substitute for the reopening of supply routes by land,” he said.
Dozens of former UK ambassadors and diplomats have piled pressure on Keir Starmer to recognise a Palestinian state amid growing international revulsion at the harrowing scenes in Gaza. Their letter to the prime minister came as the archbishop of York condemned the dehumanisation of people in Gaza as “depraved” and “barbaric”.
Keir Starmer’s government is “deeply committed” to recognising a Palestinian state, cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said. The business secretary stressed that such a move would have to be meaningful and come as part of a “genuine move towards a two-state solution and a long-term peace settlement” with Israel.
The police and government are ready to respond if violent protests over the asylum system spread following events in Epping, a cabinet minister has said. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he could understand people’s frustrations at hotels being used to house asylum seekers but insisted that had come down from around 400 hotels to “just over 200”.
Young people could be automatically enrolled on the voting register under plans being explored by the government, a minister tells parliament. Labour former minister Lord Beamish argued in the Lords that “the only way we’re going to get young people and other people on the registry is auto-enrolment”.
MPs have called on ministers to introduce long-awaited rules aimed at removing products from UK shelves that have been farmed on land where trees were cut down. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) wrote to environment secretary Steve Reed calling for urgent action to tackle the issue in supply chains, PA reported.
Reform UK footed the bill for a £350 bottle of champagne at a luxury lunch and a £989-a-night hotel with hundreds of pounds in room service, its election campaign spending data shows. Receipts submitted to the Electoral Commission show instances of high spending at top London venues in the first half of last year.
The biggest rail workers’ union has warned that raising the state pension age would be met with protests and direct action. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said a government review had sparked fears of a big increase in the pension age.
Around one in 10 people aged 16 and over in England and Wales were victims of at least one of the crime types of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking in the year to March, new estimates suggest. The figure is closer to one in eight for women, while for men it is slightly lower at about one in 12.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds blamed Donald Trump’s tariffs and competition from China for the slump in vehicle manufacturing. He told BBC Breakfast he was “very concerned” about the industry, which he described as the “jewel in the crown” of British manufacturing.
Donald Trump will receive a “warm welcome” from the UK government when he touches down in Scotland on Friday, Scottish secretary Ian Murray has said. The US president is expected to visit both his golf clubs north of the border – in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire – during the four-day visit.
The Labour government needs to ramp up the creation of green jobs or risk workers being tempted to vote for parties opposing the shift to net zero, two major unions have said. The GMB and Prospect, who between them represent tens of thousands of energy workers, said there needs to be more of a focus on increasing green jobs as the fossil fuel industry is increasingly phased out.
Kemi Badenoch has said she aspires to become Britain’s version of Javier Milei, the Argentinian far-right, chainsaw-wielding president whose driving mission is slashing the size of the state. Asked whether the UK needed its own Milei and whether she herself fit that role, Badenoch, whose party is languishing in third place in the polls, said: “Yes and yes.”
MPs have called on ministers to introduce long-awaited rules aimed at removing products from UK shelves that have been farmed on land where trees were cut down.
The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) wrote to environment secretary Steve Reed calling for urgent action to tackle the issue in supply chains, PA reported.
Under the previous government’s proposals, businesses will be prohibited from using or selling goods containing palm oil, cocoa, beef, leather and soy linked to deforestation.
This due diligence system was part of the 2021 Environment Act but ministers are yet to bring forward the necessary secondary legislation or set a timetable for when they will do so.
EAC chairman Toby Perkins asked Reed to set out a specific date for introducing the legislation “ideally before the New Year” so that the rules can be in place for the new financial year in April.
The letter said: “Delays in bringing forward this legislation makes the Cop15 agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and the UK’s commitment to ending deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, harder to achieve.
“However, it also leaves businesses with uncertainty and will leave them with less time to prepare and comply with the regime.
“On 2 June, in your response to the Committee, you recognised the urgency of taking action to ensure forest risk commodities are not driving deforestation and stated you would set out the Government approach in due course.”
Several British supermarkets recently warned that they are in “limbo” waiting for the government to introduce the new rules.
The former Labour leader also insisted that he and Zarah Sultana are “working very well together” after confusion over who would lead their new party.
Asked why it was him alone doing broadcast media to launch the party and where Sultana was, Corbyn said: “We’re working absolutely together on this.
“She happens to be, as far as I know at this moment in Coventry.
“I was in touch with her just a few moments ago. So it’s all fine. We’re working very well together, all of us.
Jeremy Corbyn has said that he wants the name of a new political party he is helming to be “inclusive” and “bring people in”.
Asked what the new party he was establishing would be called, the ex-Labour leader said: “It’s your party. We’re going to decide when we’ve had all the responses, and so far the response rate has been massive.
“They’ve been coming in at 500 a minute wanting to support and join the new party.”
He added: “I want it to be something that inclusive, effective to mobilise people and bring people in.”
Corbyn also denied the launch of his new party had been “messy” and said it had adopted a “totally coherent approach”.
It was put to him that the party “looked a bit messy”, to which the former Labour leader said: “It’s not messy at all. It’s a totally coherent approach.
“It’s democratic, it’s grassroots and it’s open.”
Jeremy Corbyn has indicated that the inaugural conference for the new party he is launching will “hopefully” take place in the coming months.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Corbyn said: “That will hopefully be mid-autumn time, but we haven’t fixed the date for that yet.”
“We want obviously to take soundings from those people that are signing up on the website,” Corbyn said and suggested that there are other people who “will want to be brought on board as well”.
Jeremy Corbyn said his party was offering an alternative to Reform UK’s “dangerously divisive” politics.
Asked whether he believed his new party could do on the left what Reform had on the right, he said: “Reform only offer a message of division and blame.
“All they do is say that every social problem in our society is somehow or other the fault of extremely vulnerable minorities. They are a dangerously divisive sort of force in our society.
“What we’re offering instead is to bring people together so we collectively face the issues of poverty, the issues about bad housing, the issues of underfunded education, so we face those issues together.
“Reform are a road to danger, not a road to any improvement in people’s lives.”
Asked how he could convince people the new project would not simply be a rehash of Corbyn-era Labour, he said: “The Labour party is a very top-down, highly centralised party that is full of control freaks who want to control whatever goes on within the party.”
He added: “This is going to be community-led, community-based, grassroot-led, this is going to be very different, and you know what? It’s going to be fun.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has called for the Royal Air Force to carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza.
“Aid delivered by the air is no substitute for the reopening of supply routes by land,” he said.
“But the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe we are now witnessing requires us to leave no stone unturned in our efforts to get aid to Gazans.”
Young people could be automatically enrolled on the voting register under plans being explored by the government, a minister tells parliament.
Labour former minister Lord Beamish argued in the Lords that “the only way we’re going to get young people and other people on the registry is auto-enrolment”. Responding, communities minister Lord Khan of Burnley says the government would “take steps to move towards” this, but adds that electoral law is “complicated”.
We intend to actively explore and test new and more automated methods of registration, including better use of data to identify people who are eligible, and integration with other government services to make it easier for people to register.
The minister also reveals the government is “looking at” placing 16 and 17-year-olds on the electoral register at the same time they are given their national insurance numbers. This comes in response to Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard, who asks:
Will the government now implement the unanimous cross-party recommendation of the House of Lords select committee and automatically include 16 and 17-year-olds on the electoral registers at the same time as they are given their national insurance numbers?
Lord Khan replies:
This is a major change in the electoral franchise, and we need to get it right. Changes to the electoral law of this magnitude require careful planning and should not be rushed. On the question in relation to national insurance, we are looking at different options for ensuring young people can be easily and accurately registered to vote, and ways to enable people to register when they interact with other government services.
So the (Lord Rennard) keeps pushing. I’m going to give (Lord Rennard) good news … to say we are looking at that as well.
Adnan Hussain, the independent MP for Blackburn who was elected last summer, appeared to give his backing to the project, posting an image of Corbyn and Sultana’s statement online, adding: “Let’s do this”.
A Labour source has said: “The electorate has twice given its verdict on a Jeremy Corbyn-led party.”
The launch of Corbyn and Sultana’s new party has been bumpy. Sultana said they were joining forces earlier this month, but the former Labour leader appeared unready to announce the move. And now there appears to be no agreement on the party’s name.
The movement has the website yourparty.uk, with a welcome message saying “this is your party” – but Sultana has said: “It’s not called Your Party.”
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Rowena Mason
Reform UK footed the bill for a £350 bottle of champagne at a luxury lunch and a £989-a-night hotel with hundreds of pounds in room service, its election campaign spending data shows.
Receipts submitted to the Electoral Commission show instances of high spending at top London venues in the first half of last year.
During one £1,703 lunch at the Shard restaurant in May last year, about four diners enjoyed set-course meals, the £352 magnum of champagne, another £155 bottle of Veuve Clicquot, three “girl in a glass” cocktails at £19.50 each, two £18 wines, a £24 gin and tonic, and an 18-year-old Glenfiddich whisky at £31.
In another £1,367 bill from June 2024, Reform paid for a single night’s £989 stay at Sea Containers, a hotel on London’s South Bank, plus £99 on “dinner liquor” and £205 on room service and the minibar.
Asked whether members would be happy for their subscriptions to be spent on such luxury items, party sources said the expenses were not incurred by Farage, his chair David Bull, or any other senior party figures, but were racked up by someone who has now left the party.