https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/new-kind-political-party

Corbyn and Sultana commit to launching new socialist party

JEREMY CORBYN and Zarah Sultana have reaffirmed their intention to launch a new political party of the socialist left to challenge a system rigged against working people.

The two former Labour MPs issued a joint statement today committing to the new party after three weeks of sometimes tense and challenging discussions since Ms Sultana quit the Labour Party.

They pledged the creation of “a new kind of political party — one that belongs to you” and looked ahead to a founding conference at which members would “decide the party’s direction, the model of leadership and the policies that are needed to transform society.”

The founding process will also determine the name of the new party. It is understood that the process will be overseen by a working group to be established by the Independent Alliance of MPs, of which Corbyn and Sultana are both members.

Polling shows that the party will pose a serious threat to Labour, with one survey putting the two neck-and-neck on 15 per cent.

In alliance with the Greens, currently in the midst of their own leadership contest, it could overhaul Labour as the main electoral expression of the left in British politics.

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“The system is rigged when the government says there is no money for the poor, but billions for war. We cannot accept these injustices, and neither should you.”

The statement continued: “We will only fix the crises in our society with a mass redistribution of wealth and power. That means taxing the very richest in our society.

“That means an NHS free from privatisation and bringing energy, water, rail and mail into public ownership,” it added, and “investing in a massive council-house building programme” — recalling some of the most popular policies of Labour under Corbyn.

The Corbyn-Sultana statement also takes aim at “the government’s complicity in crimes against humanity. Now, more than ever, we must defend the right to protest against genocide.

“That is why we will keep demanding an end to all arms sales to Israel and for the only path to peace — a free and independent Palestine.

“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.

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