It has been a long time since there was a left-wing party active in the UK that stood any realistic prospects of being elected. This will have been the Labour Party, before its transformation under Tony Blair shifted it away from any semblance of socialism to become a liberal party.
Some may counter-challenge the Labour Party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn; however, Corbyn did not succeed in transforming the party, and his tenure saw entrenched opposition to a drift back to the left from both the majority of the members of parliament and from the overwhelming majority of Party employees.
The lack of transformation was evident in the ease with which Kier Starmer, now the UK’s Prime Minister, took over the reins of the machine and succeeded in pushing the Party even further to the right and in an authoritarian direction.
Parties to the left of Labour have never enjoyed success, either with their electoral polling or with their membership numbers. The majority of these are Trotskyist in nature and not especially stable in terms of their ability to splinter.
This could be set to change with the announcement by Corbyn of a new left-wing party. One needs to be hesitant at this stage, since there are few details about the party’s ideology. It doesn’t even, as yet, have a name. Yet it does seem set to be progressive in nature.
In a sense, the nameless entity is deliberate. The party plans to hold a conference in September where its name will be agreed and its policy platform developed. That said, in the age of media soundbites and sometimes fickle attention spans of the general public, it may have been prudent to have a name, a confirmed leader (expected to be Corbyn, either as sole leader or co-leader with fellow independent MP Zarah Sultana) and a basic policy platform.
There are some signs as to the direction. Since he was ousted from the Labour Party at Starmer’s behest, Corbyn has campaigned strongly on an anti-war, anti-racist, and pro-redistribution platform. This includes his Peace and Justice Project.
One policy position of the Peace and Justice Project is a ‘green new deal’:
As millions struggle to pay their energy bills, fossil fuel giants are taking home record profits. Private profiteering is plunging people into poverty and destroying our planet. Alongside water, rail and mail, it’s time we put energy back where it belongs: in public hands.
With the new political party, Corbyn has said it will exist to “take on the rich and powerful” and campaign for the redistribution of wealth.
The veteran socialist has also said: “This is going to be community-led, community-based, grassroot-led, this is going to be very different, and you know what? It’s going to be fun.”
In a joint statement, Corbyn and Sultana mentioned wealth redistribution, nationalisation, investing in social housing and opposing the privatisation of the National Health Service. It is also expected to call for an end to the sale of arms to Israel, action against climate change and protection of the right to protest.
While we await details on the new party (dubbed ‘Your Party’ for the time being), how successful will it be? There are signs that the party will attract a relatively high level of support. Corbyn won as an independent candidate in the constituency he previously held under the Labour Party ticket in Islington North, comfortably beating the Labour candidate.
It also stands that Corbyn, despite being unsuccessful in the UK general elections in 2017 and 2019, won more votes than Kier Starmer did in 2024. There is also a parallel with the shift on the right of UK politics, with Reform UK – a populist if deeply conservative movement – taking votes and members from the traditionalist Conservative Party. Hence, a space may exist to the left of the Labour Party and the chameleon Liberal Democrats, offering a more radical alternative.
UK politics is certainly shifting, shuddering from a two-party to a multiple-party model. Things are set to change.
