Labour loses first councillor to new Corbyn party
Grace Lewis, a 22-year-old who sits on Coventry city council, resigned from Sir Keir Starmer's party on Friday to join the new rival political movement.
Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana, who both currently sit as independent MPs, set up their new party last month to fight Sir Keir and Labour at a national scale.
Their party has the placeholder name of Your Party and is positioning itself to the Left of Labour on issues including tax, welfare and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Its founding conference is expected to take place in November.
Cllr Lewis said in a statement: 'Today, after five-and-a-half years, I resigned my Labour Party membership. I will now serve the residents of Westwood on Coventry city council as an independent.
'The Labour Party promised 'change', yet since entering government, Labour has cut support for disabled people, kept the Tories' cruel two-child benefit cap and slashed winter fuel payments, driving record numbers into poverty.
'They have joined Reform in targeting minorities, including migrants and trans people, all whilst being active participants in the genocide in Gaza, ramping up spending on war, and arming Israel – criminalising peaceful protesters in the process.'
She went on to pledge her support to Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana's party, saying it was 'rooted in working-class communities' and offered 'real change'.
Cllr Lewis continued: 'When Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn announced its inception, I felt a sense of genuine political hope for the first time in a long time.'
Echoing Mr Corbyn's campaign slogan from his time as Labour leader, she added: 'From the picket line and demonstrations to the council chamber, I'll continue to fight for peace, justice, and to put wealth and power into the hands of the many, not the few.
'Together, let's build the alternative. Join us at YourParty.UK.'
Cllr Lewis was elected as a Labour councillor in May 2024, two months before Sir Keir's landslide victory at the general election.
At a council meeting in December, she accused Israel of a 'genocidal assault on Gaza' and urged the West Midlands Pension Fund to withdraw its investments from any companies linked to arms sales to Israel.
On her graduation day at the University of Warwick last summer, Ms Lewis posed with a banner that read 'Free Palestine' and wore a badge of the Palestinian flag.
She wrote on Instagram: 'My degree may be over, but Warwick's complicity is not – free Palestine.'
Responding to Cllr Lewis's defection, Ms Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, said: 'Grace is a formidable force in local government and I'm proud to welcome her to the new political party we're building.
'Across the country, millions feel politically homeless. Labour is dead. To councillors everywhere – are you really delivering the change Keir Starmer promised?'
Labour has sought to dismiss the new rival party, claiming voters have 'twice given their verdict' on Mr Corbyn after he led Labour to defeat at the 2017 and 2019 general elections.
But polling suggests the new party founded by Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana could take anything between 10 and 18 per cent of the popular vote at an election.
This would strike a further blow to Sir Keir and Labour's hopes of keeping power, and the party is expected to split the Left-wing vote in a similar way to how Reform UK has taken support from the Tories.
In an email to supporters on Friday, Your Party disclosed more information about its founding conference in the coming weeks and confirmed it will be held 'before the end of the year'.
It said: 'This conference will be the moment where, together, we will decide the direction, structure and platform of this party.
'To make it as accessible and democratic as possible, the conference will be hybrid – both in-person and online – so that everyone can take part in the decisions that will shape its future. Make no mistake: whatever the name, it is always going to be your party.'
The email went on to say Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana would be working with the four independent MPs who were elected alongside Mr Corbyn on a pro-Gaza ticket at last year's general election.
The pro-Palestinian independents, the email said, would be helping to 'kickstart the founding process and make an autumn conference a reality'.
'They will be working with people from campaigns, trade unions and social movements up and down the country, united by the same goal: to launch a democratic party that belongs to you.'
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