Jeremy Corbyn has broken his silence on the new left-wing political party announced by ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana, confirming that “discussions are ongoing” about the party’s formation.
On Thursday evening, Ms Sultana - a former Labour MP - said she would co-lead the new movement with Mr Corbyn, hitting out at the government for having “completely failed to improve people’s lives”.
But the ex-Labour leader initially failed to comment, sparking rumours he had not fully committed to join.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, the veteran left-winger said: “Real change is coming.
“One year on from the election, this Labour government has refused to deliver the change people expected and deserved. Poverty, inequality and war are not inevitable. Our country needs to change direction, now.
“Congratulations to Zarah Sultana on her principled decision to leave the Labour Party. I am delighted that she will help us build a real alternative.”
He added: “The democratic foundations of a new kind of political party will soon take shape. Discussions are ongoing – and I am excited to work alongside all communities to fight for the future people deserve.
“Together, we can create something that is desperately missing from our broken political system: hope.”
Ms Sultana, whose Labour whip was suspended last year after voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, was still a member of the party despite no longer being a Labour MP.
In a statement on Thursday, she confirmed her resignation from Labour and announced plans to co-lead the new party alongside Mr Corbyn and “other independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country”.
“Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper”, she said, warning that the “two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises”.
The MP added: “A year ago, I was suspended by the Labour Party for voting to abolish the two-child benefit cap and lift 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.”
It comes after Sir Keir was forced to abandon a key plank of his controversial benefit cuts in order to get them through parliament in the face of a mass rebellion of Labour MPs.
While his welfare reform bill passed its second reading by 335 votes to 260 – a majority of 75 – the prime minister still suffered the largest rebellion of his premiership so far, with 49 Labour MPs voting to reject the legislation.
It came after a last-ditch announcement that plans to restrict eligibility for personal independence payments (PIP) – which had been the central pillar of the government’s reforms – were being dropped in a humiliating climb down for the prime minister.
The rebellion was a sign of growing disaffection among Labour MPs, with mounting concern over Sir Keir’s leadership and the direction of the government.
Responding to Ms Sultana’s announcement, home secretary Yvette Cooper said the Coventry South MP “has always taken a very different view to most people in the government on a lot of different things, and that’s for her to do so.”
Ms Cooper also rejected her accusation that Labour was failing to improve people’s lives, telling Sky News: “I just strongly disagree with her.”
The home secretary pointed to falling waiting times in the NHS, the announcement of additional neighbourhood police officers, extending free school meals and strengthening renters’ rights as areas where the government was acting.
“These are real changes [that] have a real impact on people’s lives,” she said.
John McDonnell, a Labour MP on the left of the party who previously served in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, said he was “dreadfully sorry to lose Zarah from the Labour Party”.
“The people running Labour at the moment need to ask themselves why a young, articulate, talented, extremely dedicated socialist feels she now has no home in the Labour Party and has to leave,” he warned.
Ms Sultana was one of seven MPs who had the Labour whip suspended last summer when they supported an amendment to the King’s Speech which related to the two-child benefit cap.
Four of the seven had the whip restored earlier this year, but Ms Sultana was not among them.
