Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has attended a meeting for a new left-leaning political party called “Collective,” which has ambitions to become the UK’s largest political party by membership and challenge Reform UK’s polling levels.
Corbyn was joined by former Unite general secretary Len McCluskey and several former independent candidates as they began outlining democratic structures for the new party.
An organiser stated that the new left-wing party aims to contest the next general election and act as a counterweight to both Reform UK and Labour’s perceived shift to the right under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.
A source close to Corbyn clarified that his attendance was not an official endorsement but rather an opportunity to “listen to and share a variety of views about the way forward for the left.”
Among those at the meeting were Jamie Driscoll, former North of Tyne mayor, Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman, film director Ken Loach, and Andrew Feinstein, the anti-apartheid activist who challenged Starmer in his Holborn and St Pancras seat. Karie Murphy, Corbyn’s former chief of staff, was also present.
Pamela Fitzpatrick, director of Corbyn’s Peace and Justice project and soon-to-be director of the new movement, said, “Now is the time” to establish the party. She cited the growing political disenchantment and the decline in support for Labour as the driving force behind the creation of the new movement.
The group aims to capitalise on what they describe as dissatisfaction with Labour’s recent policy decisions, including cuts to winter fuel allowances and delays in NHS projects. A follow-up meeting is planned in six weeks to further the party’s development.
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