MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn
An MP who was ousted from the Labour Party has announced she is setting up a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn.
Independent MP Zarah Sultana said she and the former Labour leader will co-lead the new party, which she did not provide a name for.
She said other independent MPs, campaigners and activists from across the country will join them, but did not name anyone.
Politics latest: Zarah Sultana’s stinging resignation letter
Ms Sultana also said she was “resigning” from the Labour Party after 14 years.
She was suspended as a Labour MP shortly after they came to power last summer for voting against the government maintaining the two-child benefit cap.
Several others from the left of the party, including Mr Corbyn, were also suspended for voting against the government, and also remained as independent MPs.
However, Ms Sultana was still a member of the Labour Party – until now.
Mr Corbyn has previously said the independent MPs who were suspended from Labour would “come together” to provide an “alternative.
The other four are: Iqbal Mohamed, Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain.
Mr Corbyn and the other four independents have not said if they are part of the new party Ms Sultana announced.
In her announcement, Ms Sultana said she would vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap again and also voted against scrapping the winter fuel payment for most pensioners.
Ms Sultana also voted against the government’s welfare bill this week, which was heavily watered down as Sir Keir Starmer tried to prevent a major rebellion from his own MPs.
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Protesters block Israeli arms manufacturer in Bristol
On Wednesday, Ms Sultana spoke passionately against Palestine Action being proscribed as a terror organisation – but MPs eventually voted for it to be.
She said to proscribe it is “a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth”.
Ms Sultana said they were founding the new party because “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper – just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population”.
She called Reform leader Nigel Farage “a billionaire-backed grifter” leading the polls “because Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives.
Ms Sultana called Nigel Farage a ‘billionaire-backed grifter’. Pic: PA
The MP, who has spoken passionately about Gaza, added: “Across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.
“But the truth is clear: this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.
“We are not going to take this anymore.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “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.
“Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.”
Bitcoin briefly lost all of its gains this year after the crypto markets bled over the weekend, despite the US government reopening on Thursday, which was expected to provide much-needed relief to the markets.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell to a low of $93,029 on Sunday, down 25% from its all-time high in October. It started the year at $93,507.
It has since rebounded to around $94,209, CoinGecko data shows.
This year was tipped to be a strong one for the crypto markets after US President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20 and formed the most pro-crypto administration to date, which has followed through on most of his promises.
Regulatory momentum under the Trump administration has been accompanied by an explosion in corporate Bitcoin treasury adoption and more inflows into the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
However, Trump’s war on tariffs and the US government shutdown — the latter of which ended on Thursday after a record 43 days — have contributed to multiple double-digit Bitcoin price pullbacks throughout the year.
Bitcoin whales have also slowed price rallies
Another key catalyst seen behind Bitcoin’s price slump has been OG Bitcoiners and whales selling off portions of their holdings, compressing upside even in light of positive industry developments.
However, Glassnode analysts last week said the “OG Whales Dumping” Bitcoin narrative isn’t as strong as it is made out to be, explaining that it is “normal bull-market behaviour,” particularly during the late stages of bull runs.
“This steady rise reflects increasing distribution pressure from older investor cohorts — a pattern typical of late-cycle profit-taking, not a sudden exodus of whales.”
Related: Peter Schiff calls Strategy’s model ‘fraud,’ challenges Saylor to debate
Bitcoin isn’t alone — Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) are down 7.95% and 28.3% respectively from the start of 2025, while most altcoins have been hit even harder.
Four-year cycle thesis still not in effect, analyst says
Industry analysts are also speculating whether the four-year cycle thesis remains in effect, despite the crypto markets having far more institutional and regulatory backing compared to earlier market cycles.
Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan is one of a few analysts who believe Bitcoin will boom in 2026 due to the “debasement trade” thesis playing out, while the broader markets will benefit from increased adoption in stablecoin, tokenization and decentralized finance.
“I think the underlying fundamentals are just so sound,” Hougan said last Wednesday.
“I just think those are too big to keep down. So I think 2026 will be a good year.”
Magazine: If the crypto bull run is ending… it’s time to buy a Ferrari: Crypto Kid
Many Labour MPs have been left shellshocked after the chaotic political self-sabotage of the past week.
Bafflement, anger, disappointment, and sheer frustration are all on relatively open display at the circular firing squad which seems to have surrounded the prime minister.
The botched effort to flush out backroom plotters and force Wes Streeting to declare his loyalty ahead of the budget has instead led even previously loyal Starmerites to predict the PM could be forced out of office before the local elections in May.
“We have so many councillors coming up for election across the country,” one says, “and at the moment it looks like they’re going to be wiped out. That’s our base – we just can’t afford to lose them. I like Keir [Starmer] but there’s only a limited window left to turn things around. There’s a real question of urgency.”
Another criticised a “boys club” at No 10 who they claimed have “undermined” the prime minister and “forgotten they’re meant to be serving the British people.”
There’s clearly widespread muttering about what to do next – and even a degree of enviousness at the lack of a regicidal 1922 committee mechanism, as enjoyed by the Tories.
“Leadership speculation is destabilising,” one said. “But there’s really no obvious strategy. Andy Burnham isn’t even an MP. You’d need a stalking horse candidate and we don’t have one. There’s no 1922. It’s very messy.”
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Starmer’s faithfuls are ‘losing faith’
Others are gunning for the chancellor after months of careful pitch-rolling for manifesto-breaching tax rises in the budget were ripped up overnight.
“Her career is toast,” one told me. “Rachel has just lost all credibility. She screwed up on the manifesto. She screwed up on the last two fiscal events, costing the party huge amounts of support and leaving the economy stagnating.
“Having now walked everyone up the mountain of tax rises and made us vote to support them on the opposition day debate two days ago, she’s now worried her job is at risk and has bottled it.
“Talk to any major business or investor and they are holding off investing in the UK until it is clear what the UK’s tax policy is going to be, putting us in a situation where the chancellor is going to have to go through this all over again in six months – which just means no real economic growth for another six months.”
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Why is the economy flatlining?
Read more:
Starmer and Reeves ditch plans to raise income tax
Former chancellor Osborne is shock contender to head HSBC
After less than 18 months in office, the government is stuck in a political morass largely of its own making.
Treasury sources have belatedly argued that the chancellor’s pre-budget change of heart on income tax is down to better-than-expected economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
That should be a cause of celebration. The question is whether she and the PM are now too damaged to make that case to the country – and rescue their benighted prospects.
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