LONDON (Reuters) -The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced on Friday he was in talks to start a new political party because Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government had “refused to deliver the change” that voters expected during its first year in office.
Labour suspended Corbyn in 2020 and then kicked him out of the party following a report into how anti-Semitism complaints were handled under his leadership.
“The democratic foundation of a new kind of political party will take shape soon,” Corbyn said on X. “Discussions are ongoing – and I am excited to work alongside all communities to fight for the future people deserve.”
The announcement that Labour could face a new threat from a left-wing party came after a bruising week for the government when it was forced to abandon key planks of planned welfare reform, which blew a hole in its budget plans.
Since winning the general election last year, Starmer has seen his personal popularity slump, and Labour now consistently trails the insurgent, right-wing Reform UK party, which is led by Nigel Farage, the pro-Brexit campaigner.
Corbyn, who was elected an independent member of parliament last year, said the “Labour government has refused to deliver the change people expected and deserved”.
“Poverty, inequality and war are not inevitable,” he said. “Our country needs to change direction, now.”
On Thursday evening, lawmaker Zarah Sultana said she was quitting the Labour party and planned to launch the new party with Corbyn.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Alistair Smout)
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