The new left-wing political party founded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana has voted to be named Your Party – the placeholder name it has used for months.<\/p>\n
It has used the slogan “This is Your Party” since its launch in July, but gave members the final choice on the name from a shortlist of four at the party’s founding conference in Liverpool on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The party also opted to be led by ordinary members rather than a single leader – avoiding a potentially explosive leadership race between Sultana and Corbyn. <\/p>\n
A Your Party spokesman said the name reflects the party’s mission to “transfer wealth and power from the few to the many”.<\/p>\n
“It was Your Party all along,” the spokesman said.<\/p>\n
“This weekend was a festival of democracy, breaking with the Westminster mould of top-down politics. <\/p>\n
“That’s what we’ll be offering to voters across the country: a genuinely new kind of politics.”<\/p>\n
Members had been encouraged to send in suggestions for the party’s permanent name.<\/p>\n
Those were then whittled down to Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance and For the Many – a Labour party slogan used during Corbyn’s time as party leader.<\/p>\n
More than 37% of the members who voted chose Your Party.<\/p>\n
Sultana’s preferred choice of The Left Party was not chosen to be an option put to the vote, following advice from the Electoral Commission, party officials said.<\/p>\n
Members also opted for a Central Executive Committee (CEC) led by non-politicians chosen by members, rather than a single leader.<\/p>\n
A party spokesperson said: “With a truly member-led party, we will offer something different: democratic, grassroots, accountable.”<\/p>\n
The decision, approved by only 51% of members, headed off a leadership race that many had expected between Corbyn and Sultana.<\/p>\n
A contest between its two most well-known figures could have re-opened many of the splits that have overshadowed the founding of the fledgling party.<\/p>\n