logo
Jeremy won't be happy! Far-left MP Zarah Sultana asks supporters to join 'Team Zarah' as name of new party she is launching with Corbyn remains unannounced

Jeremy won't be happy! Far-left MP Zarah Sultana asks supporters to join 'Team Zarah' as name of new party she is launching with Corbyn remains unannounced

Daily Mail​7 hours ago
Far-left MP Zarah Sultana has asked supporters to 'Join Team Zarah' after Jeremy Corbyn was said to be 'furious at being blindsided' by her announcement of their new political party.
The Coventry South representative re-distributed a sign-up form on her X account this afternoon insisting 'we're going to build something special'.
It followed her dramatic decision to quit Labour on Thursday night and declare she would be 'co-leading' a new left-wing party with Mr Corbyn.
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'.
He commented on the development yesterday afternoon to insist 'discussions are ongoing' - saying Ms Sultana would 'help us build a new alternative' but seemingly stopping short of endorsing her as a 'co-leader'.
Ms Sultana has urged people to 'join our team' via the 'Team Zarah' sign-up form adding 'we need your support'.
The MP is so far some 15,000 signatures off her 51,200 sign-up target.
Ms Sultana has urged people 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'.
There still appears to be no decision on what the name of the new party will be - with with the form shared under the url 'action network', asking for supporters' name, email, phone number and home address.
The sign-up page reads: 'We don't have billionaire donors or press baron friends. That's why need your support.
'Wherever you live, join our team for a brighter future.'
Ms Sultana is pictured opposite Parliament wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh.
Options mooted for the name of the new party have so far included 'Real Change' and 'Peace and Justice Project'.
Mr Corbyn had been hinting strongly he wanted 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'.
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'.
'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.
Appearing on ITV's Peston on Wednesday - after opposing plans to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group - Mr Corbyn said he was working with groups 'all around the country'
'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.'
Appearing on ITV's Peston on Wednesday - after opposing plans to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group - he said he was working with groups 'all around the country'.
'That grouping will come together. There will be an alternative view and there will be an alternative put there which is about a society that deals with poverty, inequality and a foreign policy that's based on peace rather than war,' Mr Corbyn added.
Asked if he would like to lead the party he said: 'I'm here to work, I'm here to serve the people in the way I've always tried to do.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

HAMISH MCRAE: Behind the scenes in the US, there are lots of reasons for concern
HAMISH MCRAE: Behind the scenes in the US, there are lots of reasons for concern

Daily Mail​

time23 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

HAMISH MCRAE: Behind the scenes in the US, there are lots of reasons for concern

It's party time in America. Thursday saw Donald Trump get his 'big, beautiful' budget bill through Congress. The economy is still thumping out more jobs, another 147,000 in June. That helped share prices hit yet another all-time high, with the S&P 500 index now up 7 per cent this year. The chip-maker Nvidia pushed towards $4 trillion in value, making it worth more than all the companies on the London Stock Exchange put together. And then on Friday it was the Independence Day holiday, not something we particularly celebrate in the UK, but I was glad to be watching the fireworks on a beach in Florida – the state that thanks to Trump and his Mar-a-Largo resort, can now make a decent pitch to have become the place where it all happens. It's certainly a long way from that miserable news from Blighty about soaring Government borrowing costs, a tearful Chancellor and the prospect of more swingeing tax rises in her Autumn Budget. And yet, and yet. Behind the scenes, there are lots of reasons for concern. Start with trade. Next Wednesday is the deadline for countries to agree trade deals or be hit by much higher tariffs. The timing is absurdly tight, and Trump has said that countries where there is no agreement will get letters imposing tariffs of 20 to 30 per cent. This matters for Europe, which unlike the UK doesn't yet have even a basic agreement on future levies. The markets in the US seem to think it will all be sorted: another case of the TACO trade, Trump Always Chickens Out. They have been encouraged by the fact that, so far, tariffs that have been imposed have not led to a significant increase in inflation. In theory, that's bound to happen, but in practice importers seem to be shouldering the burden by cutting their margins. You can only do that for a while. Then there's the budget. In the UK, we are profoundly concerned about maintaining our credibility in the markets, and rightly so. In the US, they don't seem to care, and at the moment can get away with it. The budget, with tax cuts for the better-off and some small trimming of outlays, will inevitably increase the fiscal deficit. I'm always suspicious of precise calculations about the impact of tax changes, and the overall effect may turn out to be quite modest. But the truth is that the US government plans to borrow around 6 per cent of gross domestic product for years to come. Some of that money has to come from abroad, with foreigners currently owning about 30 per cent of the national debt. So far, they have been prepared to do so, but the mood could shift. The main sign of such a change in attitude towards investment in US government securities has come in the exchange rate. So far this year, the dollar has fallen at the fastest rate since 1973. It is down more than 10 per cent on its trade-weighted average, and the lowest it has been for three years. You can soften the story a bit by pointing out that it was overvalued then, and it probably still is. As argued here last week, thanks to further dollar weakness, I expect the pound to go to $1.50. To be clear, this is not a panic run on the dollar; more a sensible reassessment of what it ought to be worth. But coming on top of the tariffs, a weaker currency will push up prices, and like the rest of us, Americans are feeling pretty battered by inflation. There's another warning signal: the housing market. It's gone soft. Prices are steady, nationally up just 0.6 per cent on a year ago. But the number of sales is down by 5 per cent, and there are 16 per cent fewer homes on offer. It's such a huge country that it's hard to generalise, but there is a feeling that the market has shifted from boom to stagnation, and in some areas, notably here in Florida, there's a slump. So there are cracks in the feet of the US giant. But let's not kid ourselves. The rest of the world does not seem important from this side of the Atlantic. The money is here. New York dominates global finance, and as far as equities are concerned, it has utterly squashed London. It has been a humiliating week for the UK and rather a triumphant one for the US.

Britain must hold Emmanuel Macron's feet firmly to the fire over France's abject failure to stop the boats
Britain must hold Emmanuel Macron's feet firmly to the fire over France's abject failure to stop the boats

The Sun

time28 minutes ago

  • The Sun

Britain must hold Emmanuel Macron's feet firmly to the fire over France's abject failure to stop the boats

Time net closed on Macron's failures BRITAIN must hold Emmanuel Macron's feet firmly to the fire this week over France's abject failure to stop the boats. The president will be accorded all the royal trappings on his state visit, including a carriage ride through Windsor. But he must also account for the tens of millions of pounds we have lavished on France to curb illegal migrant crossings — only to see the numbers surge. We reveal today that President Macron will unveil a new tactic to sabotage the dinghies before they leave French waters for the UK. Under the plans, French border police will ride jet skis alongside migrant boats and drop nets to entangle the engines. It does rely on a hitherto reluctant gendarmerie getting their feet wet. But, after the puncturing of a dinghy last week, France may at last be waking up to its responsibilities. Without a proper deterrent like the scrapped Rwanda scheme, the unscrupulous people-smugglers will always try to get one step ahead of the law. But anything that can turn the tide after years of French foot-dragging must be welcome, and one thing is for sure: The cops patrolling the beaches of Calais won't get anywhere unless they do more than just dip a toe in the water. Give us shelter THE Government's latest nanny state health crackdown is one of its strangest yet. Transport chiefs are to be given powers to fine people for vaping at bus stops, even if they are the only person there. French cops FINALLY drag migrant boat to shore - with BBC crew conveniently filming The move comes hard on the heels of Health Secretary Wes Streeting's threats to punish supermarkets that fail to cut sales of unhealthy food. He has already been forced to back down on plans to ban smoking in pub gardens. There is no doubt vaping is bad for children, who should be protected. But adults must be left to make their own informed choices. Labour must stop dreaming up sixth-form gimmicks that are doomed to go up in fruit-flavoured smoke. PIP squeak That means tribunal judges are overturning thousands of Government rulings that would reduce the taxpayer-funded benefits bill.

I know why Rachel Reeves cried at PMQs – and it's a frightening scenario for our country
I know why Rachel Reeves cried at PMQs – and it's a frightening scenario for our country

The Sun

time29 minutes ago

  • The Sun

I know why Rachel Reeves cried at PMQs – and it's a frightening scenario for our country

RACHEL REEVES was crying at PMQs last week. What was significant was that it was in full public view, on the floor of the House of ­Commons. 4 4 She seemed hot and bothered. The atmosphere in the house, ­particularly in the summer, can be oppressive and the chamber of the Commons is not a comfortable place, even at the best of times. To my mind, however, Reeves was under a different kind of pressure. The waterworks on display from her this week were more about the future than the past. Her plan to cut spending by reforming welfare has been sabotaged. She will have to find more money. This includes £1.5billion to pay for Labour's winter fuel U-turn. Sheer helplessness And a £4.5billion gap after Sir Keir Starmer ditched plans to cut disability benefits. Coupled with sluggish growth, we all know what is coming. In the words of Fagin's song from the musical Oliver!, she will 'have to pick a pocket or two', entirely legally of course, to make the sums add up. Kwasi speaks out after being sacked & reveals he 'fled' after being ousted The impact of high immigration, low growth and already high taxes means that we can barely afford to pay for our welfare state. Her crying, I am sure, was a sign of the frustration she feels in her job. I did the job for some short turbulent weeks and I know the feeling of ­helplessness that it often entails. There is the feeling of being besieged. In politics, you are never in control of events, but the sense of sheer helplessness often does occur when you are in a senior position. At times like that, you have to adopt the old English 'stiff upper lip', in my view. Senior figures have to hold things together, when things are getting sticky. Nobody was better at that than our late Queen. She never cried, never got teary or outwardly sentimental, even under the most extreme ­provocation. Yet, as I saw Reeves on the front bench on Wednesday, I totally understood her predicament. The left-wing backbenchers in her party despise her. They haven't even bothered to conceal their contempt. They want her out. Left-wing outrage is now being expressed by the creation of a new party. Jeremy Corbyn has said 'there is a thirst for an alternative ' and 'a grouping will come together'. Time will tell if any of Labour's left wing — the usual awkward squad — actually join ­Corbyn's 'grouping'. Now Zarah Sultana, another left-wing firebrand MP, is going to join. For all these types, Reeves is the scapegoat for everything they think is wrong with Labour in power. For hard-left MPs, Reeves and Keir Starmer stand for ­nothing. There is no love lost between them and the Labour leadership. In addition to the trouble from the Left, we read that some of Reeves's Cabinet colleagues have been briefing against her. She had warned them on Tuesday that tax rises in the autumn budget will be needed to cover the costs of the welfare U-turn. While the Institute for Fiscal Studies says she could be facing a £30billion black hole. Clearly, the welfare climbdown has made Angela Rayner more powerful. Reeves's position is obviously weaker. It is obvious that Reeves is a totally isolated figure within the Labour Party. Reeves's weak position is made worse by the fact that the prospects for the economy and taxes remain grim Kwasi Her position is similar to the school swot shunned by her peers in the playground. She provokes their antagonism and distrust. She is entirely dependent on the goodwill and patience of the PM. I know how that feels. Based on my ­personal experience, I think Starmer would be mad to get rid of her. Such a move would merely shorten his shelf life. His critics within Labour would feel emboldened to come after him. Yet I can tell you Prime Ministers, under extreme pressure, can do crazy things. He may well yet kick her to the kerb. Reeves's weak position is made worse by the fact that the prospects for the economy and taxes remain grim. Failing to get the welfare bill through in its original form means the £5billion savings won't materialise. Taxes, she has hinted, will have to go up. Nobody knows which taxes will go up, but increases are on the way. All this pressure, and the prospect of more challenging days ahead are clearly weighing on the mind of the Chancellor. I know what the pressure feels like. I never felt like crying but we all deal with pressure differently. I won't ­condemn her for her tears. 'Doom loop' It's the substance of what they are doing and the tax-and-spend policies which I object to. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight. More spending and higher taxes. When she was in Opposition, Reeves spoke about the 'doom loop' we faced as a country. Low growth accompanying high spending and even higher taxes. Rinse and Repeat. That's the doom loop. A world where Britain spirals downwards, economically, to reach a point where living standards decline. Even Reeves knows in her bones that higher taxes will kill our prospects for economic growth, for greater prosperity. It is this frightening scenario, I ­suspect, which caused the teary outburst from the Chancellor. 4

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store