Former Labour leader and independent MP Jeremy Corbyn opened the inaugural conference of the new political movement Your Party on Saturday, telling thousands of members that the project aims to spark a fresh wave of political and social change across the UK.
Corbyn, who delivered the keynote opening speech, said members carry a “serious responsibility” to build a broad current that unites socialist groups and grassroots movements, arguing that Labour had abandoned that mission. He added that there is "no rulebook for founding a party", telling attendees that Your Party must learn through its own experience.
"This is our chance, and we will take it with both hands to build our community and push harder for social justice," he said.
The party’s name remains provisional and will be put to a vote later. Corbyn described it as a democratic socialist movement representing the working class and the values of social justice, peace and international law.
Corbyn devoted much of his speech to housing, poverty, unemployment, public health, water, and the environment. He said the housing crisis cannot be resolved without large-scale construction of protected public housing, and accused Labour of “abandoning the working class”. He also attacked Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, calling him “a banker who does not represent working people”.
On migration, Corbyn criticised the government’s latest changes to the immigration and asylum system, which aim to introduce new barriers to entering the UK. He said the country’s problems stem from insufficient taxation of the wealthy rather than refugees or migrants, who contribute to the British economy through work.
A major portion of the speech focused on Palestine. Marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Corbyn hailed protesters in London taking part in what he said would be the thirty-seventh national march for Gaza since October 2023.
"We declare our solidarity from Liverpool as well," he told the hall, receiving loud applause.
“The images of starving children in Gaza, the children killed by the Israeli army, the torn bodies… This is not a war, this is genocide broadcast live on our screens. Our government is complicit through its military support,” he said.
Corbyn closed by calling for unity in leadership and organisation within the new party, stressing that he and fellow MP Zarah Sultana are aligned in their efforts to build the movement. He noted that each had publicly saluted the other at grassroots events this week.
Members are set to vote on organisational and leadership structures, as well as a new official name. Sultana is scheduled to deliver the closing address at the Liverpool Arena on Sunday, where the conference runs until tomorrow.
Calls for unity
Internal disagreements have overshadowed the party in recent days, after two independent MPs quit over disputes about ideological direction. Independent MP Adnan Hussain wrote in PoliticsHome on Friday that he left over what he called an “increasingly rigid ideological culture” that rejects socially conservative views within a left-wing movement. Reports say the tensions relate to social issues and gender-identity policies, including trans rights. Sultana has previously stated that “trans rights are human rights. Your Party will defend them. No excuses, no buts”, a position that has caused friction among some socially conservative Muslim supporters.
Hussain wrote that the problem is “ideological authoritarianism hiding behind a progressive mask”, arguing that a strand of the left views socially conservative opinions as a pathology to be corrected. Economic improvements alone, he said, do not automatically shift people’s social values, and many hold to tradition, belief and identity because they matter, not because they are materially advantageous.
Speaking to The New Arab, independent MP Ayoub Khan urged Hussain and Iqbal Mohammed, who also left Your Party last week, to return.
"They're very, very good colleagues of mine, and we're going to be continuing with the Independent Alliance. 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”.
Party members are also watching closely for Sultana’s speech, which comes months after her launch of a paid membership scheme that triggered a dispute with Corbyn serious enough to reach the stage of legal correspondence.
The conference is currently hearing interventions from regular members ahead of votes on political and organisational proposals.
The emergence of the new left-wing party comes amid rising support for populist and far-right forces in British politics, and as Labour adopts increasingly centrist positions. A YouGov poll published on Thursday found 12 percent of voters were prepared to back the new party, down six points from the same pollster’s survey a month earlier.