Ayoub Khan urges Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed to rejoin UK's 'Your Party' as conference gets underway

British lawmaker Ayoub Khan has urged his colleagues in the independent MPs' coalition, who left Your Party last week, to reconsider their decision as the party's inaugural conference gets underway.

Khan, who is set to give a speech on Sunday at the conference in Liverpool, told The New Arab on the sidelines that he hopes to see fellow independents Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed rejoin the new leftwing party.

"They're very, very good colleagues of mine, and we're going to be continuing with the Independent Alliance," he said, referring to the grouping of MPs who ran on pro-Palestine platforms in the last election.

"And of course, my call will be to bring back great MPs, who do so much great work in their constituencies, winning in an election in the way that we have is unheard of, and they have the support of the people that they serve.”

He added: “I think when we look at this movement, I want to be able to see a fairer society, a society that looks after its vulnerable, not scapegoats them, and I think that this vehicle will be able to achieve it”.

Khan was one of five MPs elected last election for their clear stand with the Palestinian people and against UK complicity in the genocide in Gaza.

Last week, Hussain and Mohamed left Your Party due to what was described as a "toxic and exclusionary culture”. The disagreements over social issues, including transgender rights, were reflected in a later statement by Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana in which she affirmed that "transgender rights are human rights. Your party will defend them”.

Hussain explained his decision in an article for Politics Home on Friday, in which he criticised the "increasingly rigid ideological culture that insists conservative social values have no place in a left-wing movement".

“The problem is ideological tyranny disguised as a progressive principle. There is a left-wing intellectual current that sees socially conservative views as a disease that must be corrected," Hussain wrote. "This current stems from the assumption that improving someone’s economic conditions will inevitably lead to the liberation of their social attitudes. This is historical, social, and political ignorance. Human beings are not merely economic tools. People cling to traditions, beliefs, and identities because they are meaningful, not because they are materially convenient."

For his part, Khan acknowledged that there "may well have been an element of toxicity", but underscored that the party "must patch up whatever differences we have in order to make this work".

The Birmingham Perry Barr MP emphasised his belief in the need for a political party that "addresses the needs of the majority, not the minority".

"I feel that this vehicle is so important that when we look at some of the greatest challenges, I believe that the best way to be able to address them is with a vehicle with a broad church and people who can mobilise up and down the country. And so there may well be an opportunity for them to re-engage, and I hope, I sincerely hope, that that will be the case.”