Politics latest: Ex-Labour MP starting new party with Corbyn - and leaves with stinging attack on Starmer (original) (raw)

That's all from us

That's it from the Politics Hub.

It's been a day that began with Sir Keir Starmer launching the 10-year health plan and ended with independent MP Zarah Sultana launching a new party.

We've also seen Downing Street present a united front as Rachel Reeves appeared alongside Starmer, following the chancellor's visible upset at PMQs on Wednesday.

Scroll down to see how the day unfolded.

We'll be back tomorrow. Thanks for joining us today. Good night!

Markets would have been 'even more spooked' if Reeves had ducked PMQs, says Harman

Baroness Harman has been addressing the government's handling of Rachel Reeves over the past couple of days.

The former chair of the Labour Party told the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that it was right for the chancellor to attend PMQs - despite images of her seemingly crying causing the markets to wobble.

Harriet Harman explained: "If she'd have not been in PMQs, the bond markets would have been even more spooked than they actually were.

"It was inevitable that Kemi Badenoch was going to ask about the chancellor. She had to be there. It would have been even more difficult to handle if she hadn't had been there.

"But there is also a question about what actually set her off."

Speaking about how the chancellor must feel following the debacle, Harman said that "Rachel will just feel mortified" as she's "not somebody who wears her heart on her sleeve".

She added: "Some people are all completely out there with all their emotions. Rachel is a very dignified, reserved person. So she will be absolutely mortified by finding herself, in this situation."

You can listen to the full podcast from tomorrow here.

Farage says NHS services should be bid on by insurance companies to deliver 'better bang for buck'

Nigel Farage has said NHS services should be bid on by private insurance companies to deliver better value for money.

The Reform UK leader was taking questions from callers on LBC, and was asked if he wanted the NHS funded by general taxation.

He replied: "Yes. But look, we all pay into the NHS if we're paying tax.

"The way the Labour Party set it up in 1948 was with something called national insurance. And I just feel, if the money we pay into this, if that money was being competed by different insurance companies who would say, 'I'll do 10,000 hip operations at this, or at this' - I just think we might better bang for buck.

"So I've been, to some extent, wilfully misinterpreted on this, by a Labour Party that's in real trouble."

He added that the French pay "about the same as us" but that patients there are "doing much better than us".

Challenged if he was advocating for the NHS to be privatised, Farage argued that Labour privatised "huge chunks of it" under Tony Blair.

"Let's face it, everyone knows it isn't working, it isn't delivering what it used to deliver.

"I don't know the answer yet, but I am thinking about all the options", he told LBC.

Reform would look to charge patients for healthcare, says minister

In response, the care minister has accused Reform of wanting to make healthcare available "on the basis of [people's] ability to pay".

Stephen Kinnock said: "On the same day that Labour introduced a 10-year plan to fix the NHS, Nigel Farage has confirmed that Reform would look to charge patients for their healthcare.

"The contrast is now clear for all to see. Nigel Farage wants the public to be treated on the basis of their ability to pay.

"This Labour government will always ensure that people receive the care they need, not just the care they can afford."

New party could see Starmer surrounded - if it gets off the ground

It's been a "fairly low-key announcement" for a new political party, our political correspondent Rob Powell says.

The revelation that Zarah Sultana is apparently creating a new party, which she will co-lead with Jeremy Corbyn, has been met with silence from the former Labour leader.

Rob notes that one reporter at The Sunday Times has even suggested that Corbyn has been caught off guard or may have "not yet fully agreed" to the new party.

But he notes that if the new organisation does get off the ground, then it "could cause problems" for Sir Keir Starmer.

Rob says: "If you have a more organised group that maybe takes in some of the independent MPs that we saw defeat Labour at the last election, quite often standing on a very pro-Palestine mandate.

"If they are grouped into a more organised structure, you could see that as a way to hoover up left-wing voters that feel let down over welfare spending and also on foreign policy, most notably on Gaza."

He adds that Starmer is a "bit surrounded here", with Reform UK on the right and the new group on the left.

Reform remains the bigger threat - but it is still an "unwelcome problem for a prime minister that has enough of them already".

Labour respond to news of new Corbyn-led party

The Labour Party appears unimpressed by the prospect of a new challenger led by its former leader.

Responding to news of a Jeremy Corbyn starting a new party with fellow ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana (according to her, anyway, we're yet to hear from the man himself), a spokesperson said "only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain".

"In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions."

Who is Zarah Sultana? The ex-Labour MP who says she's founding new party with Corbyn

Zarah Sultana MP is making headlines tonight as she has announced she's leaving Labour and creating a new political party.

She was elected as a Labour MP in July 2024, but lost the whip the same month after she voted against retaining the two-child benefit cap.

She has sat as an independent MP ever since.

Sultana was first elected during the 2019 general election as the MP for Coventry South.

She first joined the Labour Party in 2011, under Ed Miliband's leadership, when she was studying for her A-levels.

She joined the Socialist Campaign Group within the party, shortly after first being elected, and backed Rebecca Long-Bailey for leader.

She was given a junior role in opposition under Jeremy Corbyn, but was then removed by Sir Keir Starmer when he became leader.

On 23 July 2024, Sultana voted along with six other Labour MPs against the government on the two-child benefit cap, costing her the whip.

She then voted against the Labour government in September 2024, against proposals to cut the winter fuel payment for most pensioners.

She has repeatedly voted against the government since, most recently voting against its welfare reforms and against proposals to proscribe the campaign group Palestine Action, just yesterday.

Sultana has been working in an informal alliance with Corbyn and other left-wing independent MPs - including Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed.

This evening, she has now formally resigned her Labour Party membership to form a new left-wing political party.

How would a Corbyn-led party perform?

Handily, pollsters at More In Common had a go earlier this month at estimating how a new Corbyn-led party might do at a general election.

This was the voting intention for all the parties, based on a survey of Britons across the country:

It found Labour and the Greens would be the biggest losers, with the former down three points and the latter down four.

'Labour need to ask why a talented socialist feels she has to leave'

Former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said he's "dreadfully sorry" to see Zarah Sultana leave the party.

McDonnell was suspended from the parliamentary party at the same time, after rebelling over the two-child benefit cap.

He remains a Labour member, though.

"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 writes on X.

Corbyn hinted at 'alternative' to Labour

Zarah Sultana's announcement that she's starting a new party with Jeremy Corbyn comes after the former Labour leader hinted at such a development last night.

Speaking to ITV's Peston programme, he said he and fellow pro-Gaza independents who teamed up as an informal alliance last year would "come together" and "there will be an alternative".

He said it would be based on "peace rather than war".

His informal alliance has included MPs Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, and Iqbal Mohamed.

Those four - plus Corbyn and Sultana - would give this new party more MPs than Reform.

In full: Ex-Labour MP's vow to launch new party with Corbyn

Zarah Sultana has quit the Labour Party and is now founding a new party, which she will co-lead with Jeremy Corbyn.

She has explained her reasons in a letter which she posted online.

It begins: "Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper.

"Just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population.

"Poverty is growing, inequality is obscene, and the two-party system offers nothing but managed decline and broken promises."

Addressing her suspension over the two-child benefit cap, Sultana said she would "do it again", and says she would also rebel about removing winter fuel payments from some pensioners again.

Sultana lost the Labour whip in July last year after she rebelled, voting against the two-child benefit cap. She has sat as an independent since.

Watch: Is two-child cap here to stay?

Sultana continued: "Now, the government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can't decide how much.

"Meanwhile, a billionaire-backed grifter is leading the polls, because Labour has completely failed to improve people's lives", she wrote - in reference to Nigel Farage.

'A choice between socialism or barbarism'

Touching on Gaza, she added that politicians "across the political establishment" have tried to "smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists".

She called the UK government an "active participant in genocide" and said the "British people oppose it".

Israel strenuously denies allegations it is committing genocide in Gaza.

Quoting Sir Keir Starmer, Sultana wrote that "we're not an island of strangers; we're an island that's suffering".

She added that the UK will face the choice between "socialism or barbarism" at the next general election.

Addressing her new party, she said: "Billionaires already have three parties fighting for them. It's time the rest of us had one."