This is from a Tweet issued yesterday by Novara Media, referring to the new party (whatever it might yet be called) being launched by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn:
I am not surprised by the results. There is simply no comparison to be made between Corbyn and Starmer on these issues. What is amazing is that Starnmer got any support at all. Jeremy Corbyn behaves like a human being. Keir Starmer does not.
But let's also be clear, there is no party as yet.
There are no members. There are only, in the main, costless expressions of support.
And there is no clear plan right now, alongside a desire to enter a left of centre space in which others already exist, with few having much electoral success at present, and with the Greens the nost likely to have their noses put of jhoint by thise new party in England, whilst pro-indepdenmec parties might be in Wales and Scotland.
I am not joining anyone. I am not seeking office anywhere. I will advise anyone who asks my opinion, so long as they are not racists (which has cut out considerably more potential requests of late than ever it used to). I am simply concerned that viable ideas for what the left might do are used to best effect. Plausibility is key to me.
So, what should this new party do? Should it strike out on its own, or should it, from the start, seek to form a grand coalition on the left, with different groups being respected where they already have a significant presence, and with differences being respected and tolerated, and even encouraged so that the best ideas might emerge?
This seemed like the moment for a poll:
What should the new partyy being formed by Jeremey Corbyn and Zarah Sultana do?
- Form a grand coalition on the left, maximising electoral potential? (57%, 284 Votes)
- Both answers 2 and 3 (28%, 136 Votes)
- Strike out on its own, ignoring all potential partners, as Labour does? (9%, 42 Votes)
- I don't think it will be around for long, so who cares? (3%, 15 Votes)
- I don't know (2%, 12 Votes)
- Even stand down in seats where Labour has the only hope of beating Reform? (1%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 494
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Wherever either the left (as opposed to the centre-left) or the greens have won through into government in Europe it has been in left/green alliances. Nor is this limited to Proportional Representation electoral systems – France doesn’t really have PR, but the left/green Front Populaire alliance recently beat the centre and right.
More difficult in the UK is the question of co-operation with the Welsh and Scottish nationalists – though as far as I know Plaid Cymru at least are already pretty much a left/green party themselves.
Incidentally, I don’t know if you’ve see the advance info for the conference Corbyn is organising in London in September – speakers include Jason Hickel and Stephanie Kelton.
The first thing on the ‘new’ Left’s shopping list should be PR.
The second should be MMT and Tax.
Without those three, count me out.
Me too
Coalitions have a tendency to fall apart. They should only seek them after an election. As for their aims, it should be to focus solely on inequality. No identity politics, sadly not even Gaza (although Corbyn’s position is clear on that,) just pure redistribution of wealth and rebalancing the economy. All other issues will fade away when people are secure enough not to fall for grifters like Farage. Racists will still be racists, bigots will still be bigots, but much of their fuel will be removed.
No party can be that focused and succeed.
I’m just concerned they will be taken down by a side issue, such as the hatchet job McSweeney did on Corbyn with the anti-semitism “scandal,” or as Sturgeon was by anti-trans sentiment.
Coalitions are difficult but I think that they have shown that they can succeed in holding the far right at bay and they can be productive not just problematic. I do not want to focus on the challenges and the negatives that no doubt someone will raise once I submit this post. I do think however that the ‘New Popular Front’ in France, which has produced a number of ‘shared programmes’ since (in fact) 2012 has, despite all its tensions and controversies, been very critical in holding back the Le Pen-led National Front and injected, pushed important debates in French Politics. I think that it has been a lot of hard graft and an achievement (against the odds), as it rallies the Greens, ‘La France Insoumise’, the Communist Party, and more – what “you” (meaning generally) would call ‘the far left’ which always annoys me really because it is always portrayed as some sort of ‘deviance’ (!), but here you go. Despite all the criticisms and the challenges, it is still preparing for the 2027 elections. Its representatives hold a third of the seats, 192 MPs (out of 577 in the National Assembly) against 124 for the Rassemblement National (Le Pen ). This is not negligible and this is the result of a coalition set up with a “Common Programme”, ratified and presented to the electorate for the elections.
Thanks
And to complete my previous response (sorry), I just wanted to add, that some 15 years back, I remember attending a LRC meeting in Brighton and putting the question forward: why doesn’t the LRC step out, split from the Labour Party evoking the trend I was witnessing in France with the fall of the Socialist Party and the creation of this alternatively ‘left coalition’ in the UK, in order to enable the creation of a sustained movement that would transcend the legacy of “New Labour”. The suggestion was not welcomed at the time, (LoL) . But hey ho… I do think that it takes years in the making and sometimes you cannot ‘fix things’ from within. You have to step out, and dare and believe you will work and create a coalition with a shared programme, the ratification of a shared manifesto with policies on you they set out to fight the elections. Do it before, be clear, define and agree common goals. I am French for my sins but I have been living in the UK for 43 years although I can only vote in French elections. No right to vote.. only to pay tax 🙂
I’m pleased that you are willing to advise a new political party. I’d take that offer up myself if forming a new party as the advice given would be a useful heuristic.
“pro-indepdenmec” Eh?
Edited now
It was some time ago
I voted for the new party to strike out on its own. This poll confirms my suspicion that Sultana/Corbyn party will attract votes from Reform, Green and Labour. Leave Labour/Reform/Tories to split the right wing vote.
It’s also important to be clear that Corbyn lost two elections.
When the Brits, Reform type supporters or otherwise, had the chance to vote for him they didn’t.
And those who will say that he got more votes than Starmer in the first of those election defeats, my answer is, so what? It’s FPTP – he still lost.
Anyway, the last election was the first real, tactical voting election. Many who might have voted Labour, switched to get the Tory out. So, as usual, numbers under FPTP are not all what they seem.
I’m not defending Starmer, but he’s front page news every day now, the right wing press taking avery opportunity to attack him – as do the left! I’m not surprised his personal numbers are low. Let’s see what Corbyn’s numbers are like in a year or two time when the right wing media have done the usual hatchet job.
Right now, it’s honeymoon time for Corbyn. Not for long though.
But if the new Corbyn party can split the Reform vote, then great. Let’s have a four or five way vote split at the next election, then hopefully PR will be on the table.
It does make me wonder why Reform type voters would be attracted to Corbyn though.
However in losing 2 elections Corbyn had greater number of votes than Starmer and that was on a context of a feral media and also a party machine inside labour fighting against him as well
I mentioned that he had more votes than Starmer.
I also mentioned that at the last election there was a lot of tactical voting – not so when Corbyn was leader.
I also mentioned the way the media behave towards the “left”, and that isn’t going away. So no change there then.
Where does Corbyn stand on PR?
Any different to this view?
Corbynism and Electoral Reform: will Labour ever back PR?
…lack of support for PR was because “Jeremy won’t do anything that he doesn’t think Tony [Benn] would have done”
https://www.compassonline.org.uk/corbynism-and-electoral-reform-will-labour-ever-back-pr/
If he doesn’t support PR, I won’t vote for him (mind you, I hold that view about all of them).
Just to say, as regard Jeremy would not do anything Tony Benn would not have done, is already not quite correct as Tony Benn was against the separation of the LRC from the rest of the Labour Party, I think and believed that the Labour Party needed to remain ‘one entity’. Correct me if I am wrong, but I heard him speak on the subject, a long time ago. So Jeremy has stepped out, something Tony Benn did not support, although clearly what Tony Benn’s position would be today, is difficult to say.
I think Tony Benn, who I met a few times and shared tea with, would have had ‘red lines’, especially with the likes of Starmer, who would have thrown himn out long ago.
Corbyn, Corbyn, recycled Corbyn criticism, yawn. Single figurehead, personality cult for the media, yawn. Like Jamie Driscoll has done in the NE, take time to organise and develop a structure, and put out unifying policies (like nationalise water). I can guarantee IF this succeeds, and it MIGHT be ready in a year, the figurehead won’t be Corbyn.
I think Jeremy knows that
Many Reform voters are in despair at the way that both the Tories and LINO have fundamentally ignored their needs over the years. Surveys show that many left policies and positions are popular.
A new left party could be the answer they seek.
A reform councillor in Durham has resigned because his wife entering the best garden competition was seen as a conflict of interest.
Darren Grimes has been telling people who want to meet him in his surgery that the police have told him not to hold surgeries because of safety issues.
The police have said he’s telling lies.
Reform councillors not doing too well up here.
When does the whole show collapse?
I can’t see Corbyn leading the new party, he knows he is a divisive figure.
For anyone interested, there is an interview with Jeremy Corbyn from Owen Jones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49jppx61YhY
I had 2 contacts from Crispin Flintoff which initially appeared to be related to my signup to YourParty, asking similar questions and seeking information about forming local activist groups. Reading through the email it was eventually clear it was being sent to Flintoff’s entire mailing list and it arrived on my unique Flintoff email rather than my unique YourParty email, so my suspicions about a GDPR breach were groundless.
I’m a bit bothered about that though as I would have preferred to have heard direct from YourParty but it’s early days.
Hopefully there will be some local organisation soon, once they have spent some of their new cash on a bit of local infrastructure.
Then I will push for
– local coalitions with other parties/groups agreeing on:
– PR
– commitment to MMT
as a priority, while they develop a broader progressive and green platform, that is geared wherever possible, towards empowering, equipping and financing local communities rather than centralising decision making for matters that could and should be dealt with locally.
“What should the left be doing”?
Drop the word “left”. State ownership of monopolies is not “left”, a functional NHS is not “left” , public transport fir for purpose (not for rent seekers) is not “left”.
“Left” a stick used by writers in the Torygraph, Daily Heil, Scum with which to beat any party that is not borderline fascist.
“The new partyif elected to government will recover from foreign ownership companies and organisations that must be operated by the state, NHS privatisation will be reversed…. etc”.
I agree
I hope the new party does not use the word
It cannot help
At the last Dutch election – less than 2 years ago – a newly-formed electoral alliance between Dutch labour and the Green-Left came second, against many predictions.
Now that Wilders’ sham of a government has fallen, the two parties have voted to officially merge, although not begore the new election in October.
So I would be very pro some kind of grand alliance under the UK’s shameful FPTP system.
As PSR says, PR, MMT and tax are vital policies if the left/progressives is/are going to get anything done. We all know FPTP favours the right, and is to boot undemocratic and unfair. So as a matter of principle it needs to be replaced by a fairer more proportional ysystem.
MMT as a totally different way of managing the country’s finances, so we don’t get bogged down in futile ‘but where’s the money coming from?’ debates. The reframing of tax not as a means of raising revenue but as tackling inequality, influencing behaviours etc is also important.
There are many others of course. Renationalisation of water, implementing Leveson 2 to stop the lying and propagandising of the right wing press. Party funding as well. Very strictly controlling donations to parties and in fact getting state funding in place seems vital to me.
Mind you, I like Mike Par’s suggestion that to call policies such as state ownership and control of natural monopolies such as water left wing is probably wrong.
Very difficult to do, especially MMT and state funding of parties.
Also, there’s the problem of how we overcome having FPTP which the labour morons refuse to change, and where a ‘new’ party of the left might well split the vote, leaving tory/reform (I bet they’ll agree an electoral pact for the next GE) to clean up.
Already the usual ‘you gotta vote labour no matter what’ commentators like Paul Mason in ‘The New World’ are wagging their fingers at left wing voters about this.
I have just received an email from my MP Luke Akehurst to say he supports PR.
He must know he will lose his job in the current system.
That does susprise me.
Luke Akehurst has other sources of support…
https://www.declassifieduk.org/luke-akehurst-arch-israel-lobbyist-picked-for-labour-safe-seat/
I was watching a Declassified webinar last night entitled What is the UK’s role in Gaza genocide? Laura Pidcock is a co-director of Declassified. She used to be my MP before the party got rid of her.
She’s doing a really good job here.
What the left should be doing is exposing as much corruption in the labour party as they can, and there’s lots of it about.
Apparently there are Israeli soldiers being trained here, including two colonels in the IDF, training at the RCDS.
People were asking if she was going to be an MP again, but with her knowledge of parliament and the labour party, I think she is better where she is, knowing when FOIs are possible, etc.
Difficult to see how his support or PR fits in with his paid advocacy for apartheid Israel.
Looking at the qualities Reform voters thought important (Understands ‘people like me- for working people )-gives me some hope that they can be turned from backing Reform. A party which did address the concerns of ordinary people could take enough of their votes to keep them out of power.
I suspect a lot of folk know the leaders and backers of Reform are as interested in them as the people who funded Trump.
Agreed
I don’t think Jeremy Corbyn would want to be PM. But, I’m fairly certain he would want to be part of a political movement of democratic socialists with redistributive economic policies. I’m equally certain that such a movement will be fought against tooth and nail by the ‘media’ with such force that it will struggle to make much impression on a gullible electorate. My only hope is that the silent majority will recognise something good in the policies and ignoring the siren calls of the media, vote for Corbyn’s democratic socialists regardless. In the process, they might tread on the dead carcass of what used to be the Labour Party.
Given his age – 76 what about succession planning?
First off, it should be a viable party, not a personality cult and I say that as someone who likes Jeremy.
It needs to talk about policies right from the start, and avoid what I might call ‘woke’ issues. I’m not saying they are not relevant to some but my concern is for people who can’t pay bills or get work or can’t to afford to heat or eat, not someone who can’t decide what gender they are, to put it bluntly.
It has to be grassroots aligned and focussed, working class in the broadest sense of that term and democratic and open not autocratic. Focusses on fairer economics, tax reform, fairer wages and welfare and decentralisation. Perhaps a kind of genuine social charter could be written too in conjunction with it.
I know these things are a shopping list and easy to reel off but there it is. I strongly suggest we talk about workable solutions because we generally know the problems. Millions of people would vote for a party that offered realistic solutions that could be costed. Taxing wealth and the very wealthy is a part of that but even that has to be proportionate.
Joining with other parties here and Western Europe might help too.
I would love to see a political party unapologetically aligned with the social democratic values which the Labour Party (and even the Tories pre Thatcher) used to believe in and take inspiration from international best practice – especially European countries where social democracy is relatively mainstream. I agree with comments that new parties of the left should not rhetorically define themselves as explicitly left wing. Instead any parties motivated to change things for the better and propose policies most people support should brand themselves as standing up for and advancing the Common Good. In fact I think the Common Good Party would make for a better name than Your Party.
I would like to see a new party diverge from the over emphasis of identity politics which has been prevalent in many centre, and left of centre parties in the neo-liberal era at the expense of economic policy. This does not mean a new party should ignore social issues – it absolutely should pursue social justice but not in the zealous and polarising way some parties have approached certain issues – though the focus should be on addressing economic inequality which Gary Stevenson rightly points out as the issue of greatest concern in many countries, especially the UK. Economic policy should be concerned with:
– Reducing poverty (especially child poverty)
– Redistributing wealth
– Increasing fairness, opportunity and transparency
– Improving the quality of public services and infrastructure
– Taking certain essential utilities which are natural monopolies into public ownership
– Embracing the green transition and an industrial strategy which genuinely creates jobs, reduces costs and improves well being
– Prioritising well being over increasing GDP growth
– Providing quality, affordable housing
– Protecting health with appropriate and effective regulations
– Enhancing happiness by making work more secure and rewarding and ensuring the needs of those who require care are met
– Focusing on long term strategic goals and addressing challenges instead of short termism
To address the above the policies need to be bold but they also need to be realistic (i.e taxes on wealth income instead of a wealth tax). Some of the policies I’d to see include:
Spending more on social security, scraping two child benefit cap, raise minimum wage, strengthen workers rights,
– Increase: spending on social security, public services, infrastructure, local government, green energy, insulation and retrofitting, research and development; taxes on incomes derived from wealth; regulations which protect well being and create a level playing field; minimum wage and workers’ rights; social housing and mixed-use neighbourhoods; green supply chains and community ownership of energy; lifelong education and apprenticeships
– Abolish: 2 child benefit cap, privatised natural monopolies, tuition fees, large donations to political parties, bankers’ bonuses, subsidies to fossil fuel companies
– Provide: cheaper or free energy, public transport, childcare; universal basic services or universal basic income/job guarantee, four-day week if possible
I could list many other things I’d like to see such as reforming and funding HMRC, more banking hubs in local communities and full employment being added to the Bank of England’s mandate.
In addition to economic policy I’d like to see a new party strengthen democracy move away from the centralisation associated with the left in the past:
– Replacing First Past the Post with Proportional Representation
– Abolish the Party Whip system
– Reform or abolish the House of Lords with more democratic representation accountable to the electorate
– Empower citizens by reducing restrictions on the right to protest, strike and vote. Ideally rights should be enshrined in a codified constitution.
– Devolve more power to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, ensure there is a democratic pathway to leave the UK voluntarily
– Local government: more funding from central government, greater tax raising powers, more autonomy, participatory budgeting, European style smaller municipal and larger regional governments
– Supplement representative democracy with citizens’ assemblies
With regards to foreign policy I’d like to see a party which believes in and stands up for human rights, international law, peace, international aid, cooperation and sustainability.
With the announcement of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana it provides hope at a time when Labour seem intent on crushing it while Reform are selling false hope. I’m not sure Jeremy Corbyn is the right figurehead for the party and it remains to be seen what position they will have on a wealth tax, electoral reform, decentralising power and Scotland. However at least there are alternatives to the Labour Party who offer more in terms of ambition, conviction and decency. I’ve been disappointed in the Green Party in recent years as they have appeared to be more interested in identity politics than economic issues and I think some of their environmental policies leave a lot to be desired. I’m not convinced they are an adequate enough alternative to the Labour Party.
Obviously there are concerns that those of the left and liberals will be split between various parties at the next election opening the door for Reform. I’d like to see much more cooperation between parties and candidates at the next election. Where there are decent Labour MPs standing like Clive Lewis I’d rather Your Party and the Greens don’t compete. The same goes for seats where the Greens and Your Party are the incumbent and I would apply that to the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Independent MPs. I think Your Party could maximise its impact by standing in seats where the incumbent Labour MP is on the right of the party and has a smaller majority (Wes Streeting for example).
It’s early days but I will be interested to see how things develop and what the new party has to say on policy and cooperation with other parties.
A great deal to agree with
Thank you
An excellent primer for any genuine social democratic party.
After several enquiries from Crispin Flintoff ( ??? ) which I have ignored, I have finally had a follow up email from yourparty.uk
There will be a hybrid inaugural conference (“before the end of the year”). They are claiming >600k contacts so far, which I find highly credible.
A key unknown will be how much of the 30% polling for the Reform UK Ltd City metal trader party is merely a protest vote, a ” 2 fingers to all of them” vote that would be available to a progressive party with credible policies.
I don’t think anyone really knows.
Three things I DO know with reasonable certainty.
The left tends to OVERstate its support and then gets disappointed.
The swiveleyed right deliberately UNDERstate the support for progressive policies and mock them as woke lefties.
The LINO machine privately has a very accurate grasp of the situation with regard to the collapse of their own support (membership, activists, cash) – they are terrified of the Reform threat and now, equally scared of the YourParty development, and they will do what they do best in response – lie, smear, exaggerate, panic, make knee jerk responses, and display their dishonesty and political ineptitude when it comes to developing policies in response.
As far as I’m concerned, let the criticisms come, especially let them focus on Corbyn, of course he doesn’t want to lead it, and they’ve really run out of new things to smear him with but right now his name is positive for the brand.
There seems to be very little discussion of Sultana – as a young, intelligent, feisty, courageous, female, Muslim politician she is being predictably underestimated by her opponents, which will suit her fine.
What it will take the LINO apparatchiks a while to realise, is how much power they have lost. They cannot any longer threaten those who have LEFT LINO, and once there is a non-LINO independent base in the Commons, progressive Labour MPs may realise how much the LINO whip REDUCES their chances of re-election, and decide to follow the lead of those who have ALREADY won their seats on an independent ticket. At that point they may find the prospect of telling the Chief Labour Whip to take a hike, quite appealing. I don’t think Starmer has quite grasped that yet.
Another thing he hasn’t yet grasped, is that the Israel Lobby’s stranglehold on UK politics and public life is weakening quite quickly.
People can see what is going on now, and they do not like it.
The challenge is going to be to play the long game, and the short game at the same time, even though they have different, even apparently contradictory agendas.
I’m encouraged.
(But they are still being murdered in Gaza).
I forgot to mention this signicant section of the (genuine) yourparty.uk update:
–
“If you live in Scotland or Wales, stay tuned for a nation-specific update about how this process will work for you and how you can get involved”
So far, so good.
I hope so…..