Could Corbyn and Sultana reshape the left by 2029?

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Hi Diogenes,

A new left-wing party led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana is already making waves less than a month after its announcement. Though it has yet to settle on a name, the movement has attracted nearly 700,000 supporters and is expected to soon surpass 750,000.

This rapid growth reflects deep frustration with Keir Starmer's Labour, not only in England but also in Scotland, where the new party is drawing support from disillusioned Labour and SNP voters alike.

Corbyn and Sultana face the challenge of proving their party is more than just a protest movement. Their goal is to become a serious political force with ambitions for government—a bold vision in Westminster's entrenched two-party system, but one that could reshape the left ahead of 2029.

Read the full piece below.

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FEATURED STORY

Early success of Corbyn's new party should give progressives hope for 2029

Paul Rogers

Barely three weeks ago, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and MP Zarah Sultana finally confirmed rumours about a new party of the left, releasing a statement announcing what then appeared to be called 'Your Party'.

The rapid support for their new venture, which is as still unnamed after Sultana confirmed it will not be called Your Party, has been little short of astonishing. Close to 700,000 people have reportedly signed up, a figure confidently expected to top three-quarters of a million.

The sheer pace of this change suggests that Corbyn and Sultana are tapping into a deep dissatisfaction with Labour under Keir Starmer, both in England and north of the border, where the new party is reportedly attracting the support of not just Scottish Labour voters but also disenchanted younger members of the Scottish National Party.

Corbyn and Sultana now need to make clear that theirs is not merely a party of protest, but a serious outfit aiming for a role in government. This may feel ambitious given Westminster's two-party system, but it's worth remembering that Starmer's Labour Party needed only a third of the vote to win a landslide victory at last year's general election.

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That the 2029 election could result in a hung parliament that sees power being shared by a coalition of progressive elements should not yet be ruled out, especially given the huge uncertainties around the UK's current political environment.

Much will depend on Starmer. If he survives as prime minister for the next year and Labour continues to flounder in the polls or performs poorly at the English local elections and the Scottish and Welsh national elections next May, then there may well be more than a few defections to Corbyn and Sultana.

Besides the overall political impact of this, a new left-wing party representing 20 or so MPs at Westminster would overshadow Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform Party, which is already benefiting from the UK's political malaise and has a comfortable lead over Labour, at least in England, according to recent polls.

If, on the other hand, Starmer goes, then the political complexion of the incoming Labour leadership will be key to what happens next. If it is in the Starmer mould, little will change. But in the very unlikely event that a more leftist regime takes over, we really will move into uncertain political times.

In the short term, though, the stance of the new party is more likely to frame the immediate future of British politics.

While Corbyn has long promoted grassroots democracy, it is easy enough to get an idea of his party's policy focuses from the issues covered in the launch statement on its website. These include a need to redistribute wealth in the UK, invest in a council-house building programme, nationalise the energy, water, rail and mail sectors, and support Palestine.

While these are all highly important causes, Reform's current success in the polls means the new Corbyn/Sultana party should first prioritise three other issues mentioned in its statement to win support.

The first is migration, which Reform is determined to keep as its lead issue, even at the risk of being a one-trick pony. Critics see much of its campaigning as using scare tactics and straightforward racism, but it does get support. Even so, a new left-wing party highlighting Britain's ageing population and the positive need for inward migration to strengthen the workforce could refocus the debate on the idea that we need more, not less, migration.

Is MAGA a religion? Why has protest been criminalised in England and Wales? Who is profiting from anti-immigration sentiment? And how can we engage with young men who've fallen down the alt-right pipeline?

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The Corbyn/Sultana party sets out the beginnings of such an argument, saying: "The great dividers want you to think that the problems in our society are caused by migrants or refugees. They're not. They are caused by an economic system that protects the interests of corporations and billionaires."

The second area that Corbyn and Sultana must focus on is the NHS, where Reform's position is an electoral weakness. While a majority of people believe the NHS should continue to be primarily funded by taxes, Farage has repeatedly said that Reform would re-examine its funding model, perhaps opening the door to private health insurers. This position is unlikely to change, despite being at odds with that of the general public.

But perhaps Reform's greatest weakness is its insistence that climate breakdown is a non-problem and that any attempt to move to net-zero is fundamentally wrong. Month by month, the evidence for climate breakdown grows, and Reform becomes increasingly out of touch, especially among younger voters. The climate crisis is the biggest challenge facing the country and is a theme that the Corbyn/Sultana party needs to push relentlessly.

The UK's right-wing pundits and politicians have long insisted Corbynism is unpopular with the British public. So confident in this assessment was former Conservative prime minister Theresa May that in 2017, she called an early general election, confident in getting a huge majority over Corbyn's Labour Party. Instead, his message of a more equitable future cut through with voters. May lost her majority. Corbyn won 12 million votes – three million more than Starmer managed last year.

Conventional wisdom may dictate that since then, Corbynism has ended up as a lost cause. It really would be an unexpected world if Corbyn ended up having the last laugh, but do not rule it out.