The Labour giants Corbyn will aim to oust

Telegraph

3 days ago

Jeremy Corbyn's new hard-Left party is expected to target Labour giants including Wes Streeting and Jess Phillips at the next general election.
The former Labour leader, who now sits as an independent MP, broke his silence on Friday to confirm he is in talks about a 'real alternative' to Sir Keir Starmer's party.
It comes after Zarah Sultana, an ally of Mr Corbyn who was also stripped of the whip by Sir Keir, announced that the pair would co-lead the new movement.
Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana are staunchly pro-Palestine. They have both accused the Israeli government of 'genocide' over its military response to the Oct 7 massacre by Hamas.
Labour shed a significant amount of support among Muslim voters at the general election last year after Sir Keir initially refused to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East.
The election saw five MPs, including Mr Corbyn, returned to the Commons on a pro-Gaza ticket at the expense of their defeated Labour rivals.
Now Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana will hope their own electoral vehicle will be able to make similar gains at the next national poll.
Both Mr Streeting, the Health Secretary, and Ms Phillips, the safeguarding minister, won their seats on Jul 4 2024 with majorities of less than 1,000 votes.
An analysis by The Telegraph shows they have a significantly higher number of Muslim constituents than the last known England and Wales average of 6.5 per cent.
Mr Streeting's Ilford North constituency has a Muslim majority of 30.6 per cent. He only just held on to the seat by 528 votes in the general election.
Ms Phillips, meanwhile, has a constituency where 42.6 per cent of voters are Muslim. She won with a majority of 693 votes to beat Jody McIntyre, an independent hard-Left candidate.
Her victory speech in Birmingham Yardley was interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists who booed and jeered her as well as chanting 'free Palestine' and 'shame on you'.
Ms Phillips said the general election was 'the worst election I have ever stood in' and said she had been targeted by activists because she was a 'strong woman'.
Other seats that could be targeted by the new party include Bradford West, where Naz Shah has a majority of 707 and almost three in five constituents (58.7 per cent) are Muslim.
In Peterborough, Andrew Pakes has a majority of 155 in a constituency where almost 18 per cent of people are Muslim.
The slimmest Labour majority in the country is just 15 votes in Hendon, which is represented by David Pinto-Duschinsky. One in six constituents (16.5 per cent) are Muslim according to the most recent census in 2021.
Last year, an analysis by Survation and Royal Holloway identified the most culturally Left-wing seats in the UK.
These were Nottingham East, Clapham and Brixton Hill and Hackney North and Stoke Newington. All three constituencies are currently represented by Labour MPs on the Left of the party.
Diane Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, served as Mr Corbyn's shadow home secretary but has already ruled out joining his new party.
Nadia Whittome, the MP for Nottingham East, worked closely with Ms Sultana on various issues – most prominently the Gaza conflict – while both women had the Labour whip.
In Clapham and Brixton Hill, Ms Ribiero-Addy, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group, was one of the Labour MPs to defy Sir Keir earlier this week by voting against his welfare Bill.
Mr Corbyn has already joined forces with Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed since their election as independent MPs last summer.
They formed the so-called Independent Alliance in September and have gone on to vote as a bloc in the Commons while also issuing a number of joint statements ahead of key votes.
It remains to be seen whether Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana could persuade Apsana Begum, who was stripped of the Labour whip last year, to join their new party.