Green party membership surges after public split between Corbyn and Sultana
Almost 1,400 people sign up in 24 hours to increase party membership by 10% since Zack Polanski’s leadership win this month
The Green party’s membership has jumped by more than 1,000 people in a day after a public split between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana cast doubt on the viability of the pair’s new leftwing party.
Almost 1,400 people signed up to the Greens in the 24 hours since the bitter disagreement emerged, in which Corbyn and his allies referred Sultana to the information watchdog after claims that she started collecting membership subscriptions without authority.
The leap has helped push the Greens in England and Wales above 75,000 members, a more than 10% increase on the number of members when Zack Polanski won the contest to be their leader at the start of the month, the party said.
After his victory Polanski expressed willingness to potentially cooperate with the party being set up by Corbyn, the former Labour leader, and Sultana, who was elected as a Labour MP but now sits as an independent.
However, the Green leader has said it is impossible to know if and how that might happen given the lack of any party structure or policies. He added that the Greens already offer a political home for left-leaning voters disillusioned with Labour.
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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/19/greens-membership-surge-after-public-split-between-corbyn-and-sultana
Jeremy Corbyn: Surprise, surprise – Labour is reaping what it has sown
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyn-new-party-labour-uk-poverty-b2827322.html
Instead of addressing child poverty, homelessness, poor working conditions or any of the real issues impacting this country, Labour has chosen to deflect the blame and pour billions into arms, says Jeremy Corbyn. Britain is tired of having no political choice – and we’re here to fix that
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Over the past year, the government has continued a programme of austerity and privatisation. It has refused to lift the two-child benefit cap, the single biggest driver of child poverty. It has tried to take away the winter fuel allowance. It has increased the bus fare cap. And it has tried to take away £5bn from disabled people, curating a two-tiered benefit system that deprives thousands of people of a dignified life.
There is one area where the government has been very generous, though: arms spending. Government military spending is now at £31.7bn, which is a 6 per cent increase in real terms from last year. Imagine how much better ordinary people’s lives would be if we spent that money on schools, hospitals and green energy instead.
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People have had enough of a political regime that serves the interests of billionaires and corporations. They have had enough of a government that inflicts suffering at home and enables genocide abroad. They have had enough of broken promises from political parties that fail to deliver real change.
Original article at https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyn-new-party-labour-uk-poverty-b2827322.html
Video: Gaza Tribunal – Starmer govt blocked release of RAF footage of Israel’s murder of UK aid workers
