Sultana leaves Labour to set up new party with Corbyn
Jewish Labour source says 'Corbyn and Sultana have much in common - Labour is better off without them'
Zarah Sultana has resigned from the Labour Party to “co-lead the founding of a new party” with Jeremy Corbyn.
The Coventry South MP, who has sat as an independent since she had the Labour whip withdrawn last year, made the announcement just one day after she said in the Commons:”We are all Palestine Action.”
In a statement posted on X Sultana, said:”Today after 14 years I am resigning from the Labour Party.
“Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country.”
She said that “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper” and the “two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises”.
She added: “A year ago I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and list 400,000 children out of poverty. I’d do it again. I voted against scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners.
“I’d do it again. Now, the Government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can’t decide how much.”
She urged people to “join us”.
One senior Labour source told Jewish News, Sultana had “jumped before she was pushed” by Labour, following her outburst in the Commons during Wednesday’s Palestine Action proscription debate.
Another Labour MP said she had “few friends left in the party” and added they were surprised she had left “a few years ago now.”
Corbyn had spoken of a possible new political party during his appearance on the ITV Peston show. He confirmed discussions were under way among the Independent Alliance group of MPs that he co-founded last year.
Asked directly whether they were preparing to form a new party, Corbyn did not rule it out. “That grouping [of independents] will come together, there will be an alternative,” he said.
Sultana has left many in the Jewish community infuriated with her frequent outbursts, both in relation to antisemitism claims, and with her increasingly aggressive anti-Israel stance.
Her entry into political life as an MP was shrouded in controversy. In 2019 it emerged she said she would “celebrate” the deaths of world leaders, including Tony Blair and Benjamin Netanyahu in a social media post. She apologised amid calls for Labour to drop her.
Sultana also wrote of her support for “violent resistance” by Palestinians.
At one stage she was seen as the likely successor to Corbyn as the left’s leader of choice.
But unlike the former Labour leader, despite repeatedly expressing anger at her party’s political direction she failed to quit ahead of the last general election.
A Jewish Labour source welcomed her decision to leave the party adding:”Corbyn and Sultana have much in common.
“Both have been charged with multiple allegations of antisemitism and failed the Jewish community. The Labour Party is better off without them.”
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