JEREMY Corbyn's new party will have a Scottish branch, it has been confirmed, as details have begun to emerge.
The former Labour leader hinted at plans to form a new party earlier this week, suggesting he would be at the helm of a “left independent party of socialist view[s]”.
The day after Corbyn's announcement, suspended Labour MP Zarah Sultana announced she had quit to join the new party, which she said she would co-lead with Corbyn.
Rumours quickly flew around whether or not there would be a Scottish branch of the new party when it is eventually set up.
A source told The National that a small group of left-leaning Scots have been working behind the scenes to prepare the Scottish arm ahead of the Holyrood election. However, with the party not yet fully-fledged, how many, if any, candidates it will stand is still up in the air.
Collective is a movement which is working to build towards and begin a mass-membership party of the left. It is behind the new party referenced by Sultana, but is not a new party in its own right.
The statement by the Collective Scotland, the group's Scottish branch, was shared by several figures on social media, such as pro-independence outlet Bella Caledonia, Govanhill writer and poet Jim Monaghan, and the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.
In it, the group indicated it was looking to build "a full-fledged electoral alliance of the Scottish left" for next year's election.
While the statement did not mention Corbyn or Sultana directly, it said that "as the left across Britain comes together to form a new political party, the Scottish left now has a similar opportunity to unite".
It added: "With the SNP stagnant after 18 years of government, with the Labour party a hollow shell of itself, and the looming threat of Reform and the far-right, the time is ripe for a new progressive, left-wing consensus to form in Scotland.
"Collective Scotland is already engaged in discussions towards a conference of progressives and socialists to take place on October 4th in Glasgow. We invite all those groups and parties not already engaged in this project to join us.
"At that conference, we will look to build a full-fledged electoral alliance of the Scottish left to run in the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections, and build towards longer-term campaigns in our local communities for the 2027 Scottish local elections.
"In partnership with our left allies, we will seek to present a programme which takes away greed and personal enrichment from Scotland's political structures, and gives renewal to our local public services and democracy."
The statement continued: "A trend that must be broken in our political traditions is to assume that all politics happens at just Holyrood or one's local council chamber. We want to be more than just an electoral alliance for Scotland's left; we want to be the link to a wider progressive social movement.
"We look forward now, as an autonomous party of Scotland's progressives and socialists, to the coalition and partnerships we must build for all of Scotland's left to succeed, not just as a set of parties, but as a wider movement."
The focus of Collective has primarily been in the UK Parliament, as this is where the elected representatives that would form a party are based.
However, The National understands that the Collective Scotland branch and other left groups have been working since the end of 2024 towards some form of alliance or coalition for next year's Holyrood election.
A source close to the organisation told The National: "In Scotland, we have been working as a small group of people in Collective since the end of last year, meeting with other left groups in Scotland who already have initiatives going about how to work together.
"There's only a very small group of people, all we're really doing is preparing the way for a new party to happen. In the end, it'll be up to the members to decide how to proceed from there."
The National understands that the group is not clear on whether it will be standing candidates under a new party at next year's Holyrood election.
While the group may stand candidates in a few constituencies, it may also decide to back another coalition or alliance.
On independence, the source stressed that the party's policy would be determined by its members, and could be changed or altered.
But they said: "We, at least in Collective Scotland, support the idea of self-determination and support the power to call and hold a referendum."
They added that they believed this power "should lie with the Scottish Parliament, not the UK Parliament."
