Row hits Corbyn and Sultana’s new party during inaugural conference

JEREMY CORBYN's new left-wing political party faced a fresh dispute on Saturday after co-founder Zarah Sultana said she would skip the first day of its inaugural conference.

Corbyn had earlier urged members to “come together” at the opening session, as the party attempted to move past its messy launch and position itself as a left-wing challenger to Labour.

“As a party, we've got to come together and be united because division and disunity will not serve the interests of the people that we want to represent,” Corbyn told the conference in Liverpool.

Later, a spokeswoman for Sultana said she would stay out of the conference hall on Saturday. The move came after one of her supporters was denied entry and several others were expelled from the party over alleged links to the far-left Socialist Workers Party.

Sultana said she was “disappointed” at the expulsions but said she would not be “pushed out” of the party.

“We absolutely have to work together,” she said.

“But what we have to get rid of is this toxic culture of leaks to the right-wing press, of legal threats, of bullying, intimidation and acts of sabotage.”

A spokesman for the party, currently called Your Party, defended the expulsions.

“Members of another national political party signed up to Your Party in contravention of clearly stated membership rules — and these rules were enforced,” the spokesman said.

The row is the latest setback for a party aiming to fill space on the left as British politics shifts towards a multi-party landscape and Labour moves rightwards on some issues.

Corbyn, 76, and Sultana, 32, both former Labour MPs, have clashed repeatedly since announcing the party in July.

Two of the four independent MPs who initially joined later quit over internal disagreements, including a dispute over the membership launch and legal threats.

“It's pretty obvious that it has been a disaster so far,” Colm Murphy, an expert on the British left at Queen Mary University of London, told AFP.

The party faces a difficult path, with polls showing the Green Party — now led by Zack Polanski, who is 30 years younger than Corbyn — drawing much of the support from disaffected left-wing voters.

During the conference, members will choose the party’s final name and decide whether it should have a single leader or be led collectively by members.

Corbyn lost two general elections as Labour leader between 2015 and 2020 before being suspended after refusing to fully accept a rights watchdog’s findings that antisemitism was widespread among activists during his tenure.

He was succeeded by Keir Starmer, now prime minister, who moved the party to the right and led Labour back to power in July 2024 after 14 years in opposition.

Labour has since drawn criticism from many left-wing voters over its immigration crackdown.

Left-wing critics also accuse the government of not redistributing enough wealth and of being too soft on Israel’s actions in Gaza.

“I voted Labour for most of my life, but became disillusioned with some of their stances on not being visible about anti-transphobia, anti-racism and not supporting Palestine visibly,” said Tris Rodriguez, 49, who travelled from Bristol for the conference.

Some 50,000 people have joined Your Party, Corbyn said earlier this month, describing it as a “mass democratic movement for real change”.

But a YouGov poll published this week said only 12 per cent of Britons would consider voting for the party, compared to 28 per cent for the Greens.

Your Party is “at risk of being irrelevant very quickly”, Murphy said, adding that Polanski had “taken over” Corbyn's role as the “populist, radical left voice” in the country.

UK politics has long been led by Labour and the Conservatives, but the Liberal Democrats won 72 of the 650 parliamentary seats last year, Reform led by Nigel Farage won five, and the Greens won four.

(With inputs from agencies)