Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and MP Zarah Sultana are launching a new left-wing party in the United Kingdom, hoping to unite the country’s fractured left. The party, which has no name yet, aims to provide a “real alternative” to the main parties in the UK. Corbyn and Sultana, both fierce critics of Israel’s actions in Gaza, demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to UK arms sales to Israel.
The new party comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer steers Labour towards the political centre, a shift that has helped Labour regain ground with swing voters and business leaders but alienated some traditional Labour supporters. Corbyn has argued that the government refuses “to deliver the change people expected and deserved”. Sultana accused Labour of failing to improve voters’ lives while accusing the “political establishment” of smearing “people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists”.
The party’s emergence is seen as a response to the void left by Labour’s shift to the centre. Political historian Jeremy Nuttall said that since Corbyn relinquished the Labour leadership after a general election loss in 2019, Starmer has created a “deliberate and explicit distance” between himself and the left. A new party is emerging thanks to the “particularly difficult economic situation constraining public spending commitments … as well as the particular silence of the Gaza issue”.
However, the party’s prospects are uncertain. Peter Dorey, professor of British politics at Cardiff University, said Corbyn enjoys a “cult following among a few younger left-wing voters and political activists” but among the broader electorate is seen as “indecisive and not someone who would make a good prime minister”. Dorey added that Corbyn is not considered “charismatic” in the way that the telegenic Reform leader Nigel Farage is to many voters.
The Green Party seems ready to work with the new party. Zack Polanski, now running to lead the Greens, posted on X: “Anyone who wants to take on the Tories, Reform and this failing Labour government is a friend of mine.” Some pollsters suggested a Corbyn-Sultana party could win 10% of a national vote, halving Green support and pulling 3 points from Labour.
The UK’s first-past-the-post system is unforgiving for small parties. Dorey estimated the new party might win five to seven seats, particularly when the issue of Gaza is a top concern. However, in many constituencies, it will simply split the progressive vote and risk handing seats to Reform or the Tories. A fragmented left that undermines its gains and gives oxygen to Farage would be Labour’s nightmare.
It’s unclear whether the new party will have staying power. Abdullatif believes the Corbyn-Sultana initiative could work if it tackles “Labour’s mistakes” head-on and takes time to develop. “Grassroots movements are showing that people-led politics can work. Antiracism movements, community organising and local campaigns have been building real solidarity networks whilst demonstrating that politics can be centred on justice and human dignity,” she said.