Former Labour MP Sultana claims she will launch new party with ex-leader Corbyn
Sultana made the announcement on the social media platform X on Thursday evening, a day after Corbyn told the political TV show 'Peston' on ITV that 'there is a thirst for an alternative' in British politics.
In her post, Sultana claimed the Westminster political system was 'broken' and that the new movement would focus on social justice in the UK and abroad.
'Labour has completely failed to improve people's lives. And across the political establishment, from (Reform leader Nigel) Farage to (Prime Minister Sir Keir) Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.
'But the truth is clear: This government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.'
She added that the choice before voters at the next general election would be between 'socialism or barbarism' and claimed, in relation to the vote earlier this week on changes to benefit rules, 'the government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can't decide how much.'
Sultana continued: 'Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country.'
Corbyn has yet to confirm whether he will be involved in the new party but admitted on 'Peston' that he had been in discussions with the four Independent Alliance MPs elected in July 2024 on a platform of opposing the war in Gaza — Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, and Iqbal Mohamed — about forming a party based on 'peace rather than war.'
The BBC's 'Newsnight' program confirmed Sultana had held talks with Corbyn and the Independent Alliance earlier this week, but that the idea of co-leadership had not been received well by Corbyn.
Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund posted on X that a source told him Corbyn was 'furious and bewildered' that Sultana made her announcement without consulting him first.
Israel denies it is committing genocide in Gaza.
Starmer has repeatedly demanded a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, describing the situation as 'appalling and intolerable,' but has stopped short of accusing Israel of genocide.
Alastair Campbell, the former Labour director of communications, told the BBC that the 'government's handling' of the war in Gaza was a thorn in the side of the party, affecting people's perception of Labour's values.
Sultana was suspended by Labour last year for rebelling against the government in a vote on child benefits.
She has been a vocal critic of her former party, including last week, when the government sought to ban the group Palestine Action after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalized military aircraft.
Sultana posted 'We are all Palestine Action' on X ahead of a vote to proscribe the group as a terrorist organization, which passed with just 26 MPs opposing the motion.
In her announcement about forming her new party, she said: 'Westminster is broken, but the real crisis is deeper. Just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population. Poverty is growing, inequality is obscene, and the two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises.'
She continued: 'We're not an island of strangers; we're an island that's suffering. We need homes and lives we can actually afford, not rip-off bills we pay every month to a tiny elite bathing in cash. We need our money spent on public services, not forever wars.'
The announcement elicited mixed responses from Labour MPs.
John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor who was also suspended at the same time as Sultana, posted on X: 'I am dreadfully sorry to lose Zarah from the Labour Party.
'The people running Labour at the moment need to ask themselves why a young, articulate, talented, extremely dedicated socialist feels she now has no home in the Labour Party and has to leave.'
Dawn Butler, the MP for Brent East, said she could 'understand (Sultana's) frustration'
But Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, told The Times: 'The hard left (is) seeking to damage Labour while the far right are on the march. As shabby as they ever were.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
‘Can't describe the pain': Bosnia marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre
Three decades after the Srebrenica genocide, relatives are still looking for and burying the remains of more than 8,000 men and boys killed by Bosnian Serb forces, revealing the painful scars cut deep into the country. On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces stormed the Muslim enclave of more than 40,000 people in eastern Bosnia. At the time, it was a 'UN protected zone' - an ultimately hollow phrase meant to shield the many displaced people who had fled the 1992-1995 war. General Ratko Mladic's forces executed thousands of men and boys before burying them in mass graves. After decades of painstaking work, about 7,000 victims have been identified and properly buried, but about 1,000 remain missing. Mass grave discoveries are now rare. The last was uncovered in 2021, when the remains of 10 victims were exhumed 180 kilometers (112 miles) southwest of Srebrenica. This year, the remains of seven victims will be buried during the July 11 commemorations at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Centre, including two 19-year-old men and a 67-year-old woman. One bone found 'This year, I'm having my father buried. But only one bone, his lower jaw,' Mirzeta Karic told AFP. The 50-year-old said her mother was very ill, and so she decided to go ahead with the burial without waiting for more remains to be found. Her father, Sejdalija Alic, joined several thousand men and teenagers who tried to flee Mladic's troops through the dense forests. He failed. His 22-year-old son, Sejdin, was also killed, as were Alic's three brothers and their four sons. He will be Karic's 50th immediate family member laid to rest at Potocari cemetery. The ceremony for her brother, Sejdin, was in 2003. 'I've been able to endure everything, but I think this funeral will be the worst. We're having a bone buried. I can't describe the pain.' 'Still in 1995' An international criminal court sentenced Mladic, now 83, and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, now 80, to life jail terms for war crimes and genocide during the conflict that left nearly 100,000 dead. Both are still incarcerated, but a proper reckoning inside the splintered Bosnian states remains overdue. Political leaders in the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, reject the term genocide and regularly downplay the massacre. 'This denial is trivialized,' Neira Sabanovic, a researcher at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, said. 'It is very rare to find someone in Republika Srpska who acknowledges that there was genocide,' she said. Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik remains one of the most heard voices of genocide-denial in the statelet and Serbia. Of 305 instances of denial or downplaying in Serbian and the Bosnian Serb media during 2024, he leads the way, appearing 42 times, according to an annual study published by the Srebrenica Memorial Centre. Last year, an international day of remembrance was established by the United Nations to mark the Srebrenica genocide, despite protests from Belgrade and Republika Srpska. On Saturday, political leaders from the Bosnian Serb entity and Serbia, along with dignitaries from the Serbian Orthodox Church, will gather in Bratunac, near Srebrenica, for a commemoration of more than 3,200 eastern Bosnian Serb soldiers and civilians killed during the war. Portraits of some 600 of these dead were hung along the road this week near the Srebrenica Memorial Centre. 'These people are not participating in the same debate. They are having a conversation with themselves, and they are still in 1995,' the director of the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, Emir Suljagic, told local television on Thursday. 'We have won a very important battle, the battle for international recognition,' he added, referring to the UN resolution.
Al Arabiya
5 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump says Hamas response ‘good', signals possible Gaza deal next week
President Donald Trump said on Friday it was good that Hamas said it had responded in 'a positive spirit' to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal. He told reporters aboard Air Force One there could be a deal on a Gaza ceasefire by next week, but that he had not been briefed on the current state of negotiations. 'We have to do something about Gaza — we're sending a lot of money and a lot of aid,' Trump told reporters, as Hamas said it was ready to start negotiations 'immediately' on a US-backed truce proposal. The announcement comes ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington on Monday. The conflict in Gaza began with Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked a massive Israeli offensive aimed at destroying Hamas and bringing home all the hostages seized by the group. Two previous ceasefires brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States resulted in temporary halts in fighting, coupled with the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu earlier on Friday vowed to bring home all the hostages held in Gaza after coming under intense domestic pressure over their fate.
Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Hamas says ready to start Gaza ceasefire talks ‘immediately'
Hamas on Friday said it was ready to start talks 'immediately' on a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, where the civil defense agency said Israel's ongoing offensive killed more than 50 people. The announcement came after consultations with other Palestinian factions and ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington on Monday, where US President Donald Trump is pushing for an end to the war, now in its 21st month. 'The movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place' the terms of a draft US-backed truce proposal received from mediators, the armed group said in a statement. Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it supported ceasefire talks but demanded 'guarantees' that Israel 'will not resume its aggression' once hostages held in Gaza are freed. The conflict in Gaza began with Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked a massive Israeli offensive aimed at destroying Hamas and bringing home all the hostages seized by the group. Two previous ceasefires brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States resulted in temporary halts in fighting, coupled with the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu earlier on Friday vowed to bring home all the hostages held in Gaza after coming under intense domestic pressure over their fate. 'I feel a deep commitment, first and foremost, to ensure the return of all our abductees, all of them,' he said. Trump said on Thursday he wanted 'safety for the people of Gaza.' 'They've gone through hell,' he said. A Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations told AFP earlier this week that the latest proposals included 'a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the living Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip' — thought to number 22 — 'in exchange for Israel releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.' Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations. The military said in a statement it had been striking suspected Hamas targets across the territory, including around Gaza City in the north and Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south. Gaza civil defense official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 52 people on Friday. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports, except for a handful of incidents for which it requested coordinates and timeframes. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulty accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency. In a separate statement, the Israeli military said a 19-year-old sergeant 'fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip.' Mughayyir said the Palestinians killed included five people shot while waiting for aid near a US-run site in Rafah in southern Gaza, and several more near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the center of the territory. They were the latest in a series of deaths near aid distribution centers in the devastated territory, which UN agencies have warned is on the brink of famine. At Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, crowds mourned 16 people killed on Thursday by what the civil defense agency said was shooting near a nearby aid center. 'I lost my brother in the American distribution center that they set up to feed people,' cried one mourner, Narmin Abu Muammar. 'They are killing people, not feeding them.' Medical aid charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Abdullah Hammad, who recently finished a contract working for it, was among those killed in Thursday's shooting. It said he was the 12th colleague the group had lost in the Gaza war. 'We demand an end to this bloodshed,' MSF said in a statement. The US- and Israeli-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distanced itself from reports of deadly incidents near its sites. Mughayyir told AFP that eight people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the tents of displaced civilians near Khan Yunis. The civil defense official said eight more people were killed in two other strikes on camps on the coast, including one that killed two children early Friday. The Israeli military said it was operating throughout Gaza 'to dismantle Hamas military capabilities.' The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,268 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
