Zarah Sultana: Ex-Labour MP to set up new party with Jeremy Corbyn

A former Labour MP has announced her intention to co-lead the formation of a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn, the ex-Labour leader.

Zarah Sultana, whose Labour whip was suspended last year, confirmed her resignation from Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Sultana, who represents Coventry South, stated the initiative would also involve “other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country”.

She criticised the current political landscape, asserting that “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper” and that the “two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises”.

Ms Sultana added: “A year ago, I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and lift 400,000 children out of poverty.

“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 urged people to “join us”.

Ms Sultana was one of seven MPs who had the Labour whip suspended last summer when they supported an amendment to the King’s Speech which related to the two-child benefit cap.

Four of the seven had the whip restored earlier this year, but Ms Sultana was not among them.

During a debate in the Commons this week, Zarah Sultana drew a sharp comparison between Keir Starmer’s past and present when recalling how, as a barrister, he defended an activist who broke into RAF Fairford to prevent war crimes in Iraq, calling it “not terrorism, but conscience”.

 “That case became a landmark in lawful nonviolent direct action against an illegal war. That barrister is now our prime minister,” she said.

Ms Sultana’s speech came as MPs voted to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation after the activist group targeted RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire, and an Israeli defence company’s UK headquarters.