Jeremy Corbyn confirms launch of new political party

Former Labour Party leader and Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he has launched a new political party.

Corbyn has issued a joint statement with Zarah Sultana, who recently quit Labour to become an independent, saying: "It's time for a new kind of political party - one that belongs to you".

The pair are encouraging people to sign up to get involved in building "a real, democratic alternative rooted in communities up and down the country".

Labelling the current political system as "rigged", they are inviting supporters to an inaugural conference "to be part of the founding process".

Although the website is called Your Party, this appears to only be a temporary name, as the site also says "Your Party - and the new party that develops from it".

Sultana tweeted: "It's not called Your Party!" to a media report of the launch on X.

Your Party is also not currently registered with the Electoral Commission, which is required in order to field candidates for elections.

The new party is believed to be aiming to stand candidates in next year's local elections.

Rumours of a Corbyn-led party have been rumbling for months but Sultana appeared to have jumped the gun when she quit the Labour Party at the start of this month and announced she would be co-founding a new party with him.

Sultana was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party last year, along with six other MPs, when she voted against the government to back scrapping the two-child benefit cap.

Although four of those Labour MPs returned to the party, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Apsana Begum have not.

That led to speculation about whether McDonnell could rejoin his former leadership partner, but that has been ruled out to date.

Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party in 2020 but successfully stood as an independent candidate in the 2024 general election.

He has since been coordinating a small group of four independent MPs, who share similar views on the Israel-Gaza conflict, and are expected to form the core of any new party.