Zarah Sultana says 72,000 people have already signed up to her new left-wing party, despite question marks over the involvement of Jeremy Corbyn.
The Coventry South MP, 31, quit Labour last week, saying she would co-lead a new outfit with the former party leader, 76.
But Mr Corbyn has been much cooler about his role after apparently being caught off-guard with her announcement late on Thursday night.
The next day he said ‘discussions are ongoing’ – saying Ms Sultana would ‘help us build a new alternative’ but stopping short of endorsing her as a ‘co-leader’.
Last night she claimed 72,000 people had signed up to join ‘Team Zarah’ and said a ticker on her website showing a lower figure – 49,000 as of Monday morning – was ‘broken’.
Mr Corbyn has been hinting strongly that he wants to form a new party – with polls suggesting it could attract 10 per cent of the left-wing vote and inflict major damage on Labour.
In an interview on Wednesday the 76-year-old claimed there was a ‘thirst’ among voters ‘for an alternative view to be put’.
Among those who said they want to get involved was Claudia Webbe, the former Labour MP who was expelled by the party in 2022 after being given a suspended prison sentence for harassing a love rival.
The Coventry South MP, 31, quit Labour last week, saying she would co-lead a new outfit with the former party leader, 76.
But Mr Corbyn has been much cooler about his role after apparently being caught off-guard with her announcement late on Thursday night.
Last night she claimed 72,000 people has signed up to get involved
The ardent pro-Palestinian MP is a long-term critic of Keir Starmer, and was already sitting as an independent after being stripped of the whip.
But the move to announce the party’s inception appeared to catch Mr Corbyn by surprise with the former Labour leader said to be ‘furious and bewildered’.
Neither Ms Sultana nor Mr Corbyn were ready to announce the name of their new political group.
Ms Sultana is urging people online to ‘join our team’ via the ‘Team Zarah’ sign-up form adding ‘we need your support’.
She shared a link to the form as an opportunity to ‘sign up here and stay updated’ and accompanied it with an extract from a Guardian article referencing her decision to ‘quit [Labour] to co-lead a left-wing alternative with Jeremy Corbyn’.
Since the General Election and his expulsion from Labour last year, Mr Corbyn has been part of the Independent Alliance, a loose grouping of independent MPs with left wing political views.
In her announcement of the new party on Thursday, Ms Sultana had said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country.’
She said ‘Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper’ and the ‘two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises’.
Ms Sultana added that a ticker on her website showing a lower figure – 49,000 as of Monday morning – was ‘broken’ (below, top right).
Among those who said they want to get involved was Claudia Webbe, the former Labour MP who was expelled by the party in 2022 after being given a suspended prison sentence for harassing a love rival.
‘A year ago I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and list 400,000 children out of poverty,’ the former Labour MP added.
‘I’d do it again. I voted against scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners. I’d do it again.
‘Now, the Government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can’t decide how much’, she said.
In a post on social media yesterday afternoon, Mr Corbyn said: ‘Real change is coming.
‘One year on from the election, this Labour Government has refused to deliver the change people expected and deserved. Poverty, inequality and war are not inevitable. Our country needs to change direction, now.
‘Congratulations to Zarah Sultana on her principled decision to leave the Labour Party. I am delighted that she will help us build a real alternative.
‘The democratic foundations of a new kind of political party will soon take shape. Discussions are ongoing – and I am excited to work alongside all communities to fight for the future people deserve.
‘Together, we can create something that is desperately missing from our broken political system: hope.’
