COVENTRY South MP Zarah Sultana has announced she is forming a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn.
Ms Sultana, who was suspended from the Labour Party a year ago, announced her resignation from the party yesterday (Thursday July 3).
She said she and Mr Corbyn would co-lead the founding of the new party with other independent MPs, campaigners and activists.
In a statement on social media, she said the government had failed to improve people’s lives, and accused it of being ‘an active participant in genocide’ for its stance on the situation in Gaza.
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 criticised her former party for keeping the two-child benefit cap, scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners, and cuts to benefits for disabled people.
She added: “Meanwhile, a billionaire-backed grifter is leading the polls, because Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives. And across the political establishment, from Farage to 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.”
Claims that genocide is taking place in Gaza are currently being examined by the International Court of Justice.
Ms Sultana 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.”
She said the choice at the next election would be ‘socialism or barbarism’.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions.
“Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.”
Ms Sultana, who has served as MP for Coventry South since 2019, was suspended from Labour in 2024 for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and has since sat in the House of Commons as an independent – but she remained a member of the party.
Zarah Sultana’s full statement
Today, after 14 years, I’m resigning from the Labour Party.
Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country.
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.
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.
Meanwhile, a billionaire-backed grifter is leading the polls, because Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives. And across the political establishment, from Farage to 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.
We are not going to take this anymore.
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.
In 2029, the choice will be stark: socialism or barbarism.
Billionaires already have three parties fighting for them. It’s time the rest of us had one.
Join us. The time is now.
