Zarah Sultana has boycotted day one of the Your Party Conference over the expulsion of members of left-wing groups.

Ms Sultana co-founded Your Party with Jeremy Corbyn in July, but the new movement has been marred with infighting from the outset.

There was a row on the eve of conference after it emerged members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) had been expelled from Your Party, as its rules do not permit dual membership.

But a spokesperson for Ms Sultana branded this a “witch hunt” and said she won’t be returning until her speech tomorrow.

She said: “Zarah met members outside the conference and condemned the recent expulsions. This witch hunt is indefensible. We must build a party that welcomes all socialists. She will not be entering the conference hall today.”

Members of the SWP argue dual membership should be allowed as the SWP doesn’t field election candidates.

Lewis Nieslon, SWP’s national secretary, was expelled on Friday as he was on his way to Liverpool.

He told Sky News: “With far right Reform UK topping the polls and Starmer paving the way for them, we urgently need a new party that unites the whole left.

“It’s wrong for those at the top of Your Party to turn fire on socialists like us who have been key to building Your Party on the ground, and are determined to make it the insurgent, inspiring force it can be.”

Members of the left-wing organisation Counterfire have also been banned from conference, Sky News has learned.

Cllr Michael Lavalette, who helped set up Your Party’s Preston branch, told Sky News earlier this morning that he was not allowed to enter the venue today.

He said he was told there is intelligence Counterfire was going to be disruptive, which he said is “simply not true”.

“Counterfire is a very pro-Your Party organisation so I am not sure where that has come from”, he said.

He said he has been told the intelligence will be shared with him which “will be interesting to see because I’ve never said anything disruptive, I’ve been encouraging people to come”.

Ms Sultana has been advocating for what she calls “maximum member democracy” and believes anyone who is a socialist should be allowed in Your Party.

Her allies see the expulsions as an attempt to purge those supportive of her. There are many grassroots left wing groups who want Your Party to be led by members rather than a single MP, a position Ms Sultana supports.

However a Your Party spokesperson said claims of a purge are “false”.

They said: “Members of another national political party signed up to Your Party in contravention of clearly-stated membership rules – and these rules were enforced.

They added: “We’re focused on hosting a democratic founding conference with thousands of members coming together to debate and decide the big issues. This is politics outside the Westminster mold: from the ground up, not the top down.”

Ms Sultana was not due to address the conference today with her speech coming on Sunday afternoon. A source close to her said she was “very much looking forward to it”.

They added that it was an “interesting” choice of programming, giving voting on the party’s key issues – including whether dual membership should be allowed – will be closed by the time she gives her keynote address, unlike Mr Corbyn who spoke this morning.

Ms Sultana was not involved in organising the conference and claims she was frozen out of the process.

But those in Mr Corbyn’s camp claim she froze herself out when she quit the independent alliance (IA), the group of independent MPs and volunteers close to the former Labour leader, who have been stewarding the party’s founding process leading up to the conference this weekend.

Ms Sultana previously accused that group of being a “sexist boys club”, in a major row in September that saw her launch an unauthorised membership portal.

Your Party has also faced clashes over its name, its finances, its policy positions – with this conference aimed at turning over a new page and convincing voters it can get fighting fit by the local elections in May.

But deep tensions remain between the two camps – those close to Mr Corbyn and those close to Ms Sultana.

On Friday, Mr Corbyn declined to say Ms Sultana is a friend.

Speaking to Sky News on the eve of the conference, Mr Corbyn acknowledged “stresses and strains” in the set-up of the party but said it had become “a lot better in the last few days and weeks and we’re going to get through this weekend”.

Asked if they were friends, Mr Corbyn said they were “colleagues in parliament, and we obviously communicate and so on”.

The pair appeared at separate events on the eve of the party’s inaugural gathering.

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Jeremy Corbyn has declined to say his Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana is a friend as supporters of the new grouping gather in Liverpool.

Speaking to Sky News on the eve of the conference, Mr Corbyn acknowledged “stresses and strains” in the set-up of the party but said it had become “a lot better in the last few days and weeks and we’re going to get through this weekend”.

The former Labour leader has publicly clashed with Ms Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, over the launch and structure of the new party.

Asked if they were friends, Mr Corbyn said they were “colleagues in parliament, and we obviously communicate and so on”.

The pair appeared at separate events on the eve of the party’s inaugural gathering.

Ms Sultana had previously claimed she was being “sidelined” by a “sexist boys’ club” within the fledgling party.

Mr Corbyn said her comments were an “unfortunate choice of words” but added that he had been more involved in the organisation of the conference than she had.

The Islington North MP also said that Your Party was still waiting for Ms Sultana to transfer all of the funds she had raised from supporters.

“Obviously having money up front for a conference is a big help,” he said.

Ms Sultana has insisted she is transferring the donations in stages.

The weekend gathering in Liverpool will see supporters choose between four options for a permanent party name: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, For the Many.

The preferred choice of Ms Sultana – The Left – did not make the ballot.

Similarly, the Coventry MP had said she favoured a co-leader approach, but members will only be able to pick between single leadership or collective leadership models.

Speaking at her own pre-conference rally, Ms Sultana blamed a “nameless, faceless bureaucrat” for restricting the choices.

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The meeting also risked being disrupted by a series of member expulsions. One of those ejected, Lewis Nielsen, accused a “clique” of trying to “take over”.

Your Party sources said expulsions related to members of the Socialist Workers Party and that holding another national party membership was not allowed.

Ms Sultana blamed a “culture of paranoia at the top” and said she believed the same people who had been briefing against her were now also expelling members.

Mr Corbyn will open the conference on Saturday, while the results of the main decision-making votes will be announced on Sunday.

A ban on asylum seekers using taxis for most medical journeys has been announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

Under the new rules, taxi use for medical travel will be restricted to “exceptional” cases such as physical disability, pregnancy or serious illness – and these will require government approval.

Ms Mahmood made the announcement after a BBC investigation found “widespread” use of taxis by asylum seekers, including for long journeys – with one case involving a 250-mile trip to see a GP.

Transport for asylum seekers has cost the government an average of almost £16m a year, according to reports.

All service providers will be required to stop using taxis for medical journeys from February next year and the government is now working to help introduce alternatives such as public transport.

“This government inherited Conservative contracts that are wasting billions of taxpayers’ hard-earned cash,” the home secretary said.

“I am ending the unrestricted use of taxis by asylum seekers for hospital appointments, authorising them only in the most exceptional circumstances.

“I will continue to root out waste as we close every single asylum hotel.”

Taxi drivers said the system was open to “abuse”, accusing sub-contractors of inflating mileage, for instance by dispatching drivers over long distances to perform much shorter journeys.

One told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he had been dispatched from Gatwick to take an asylum seeker more than 50 miles away in Reading to an appointment only 1.5 miles from his hotel. A second driver was reportedly sent from Heathrow, about 30 miles away, to bring the same man back from the appointment.

The policy change comes after a Home Office review of transport arrangements for asylum seekers, it is understood.

Asylum system overhaul

It comes after a raft of measures to overhaul the asylum system was set out by Ms Mahmood earlier in November.

In an interview with Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, she admitted the UK’s illegal immigrant numbers were “too high” – but said Reform UK leader Nigel Farage could “sod off” after he claimed she sounded like a Reform supporter.

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The “restoring order and control” plan includes:

• The removal of more families with children – either voluntarily through cash incentives up to £3,000, or by force;
• Quadrupling the time successful asylum seekers must wait to claim permanent residency, from five to 20 years;
• Removing the legal obligation to provide financial support for those who have the right to work but choose not to;
• Setting up a new appeals body to significantly speed up the time it takes to decide whether to refuse an application;
• Reforming how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is interpreted in immigration cases;
• Banning visas for countries refusing to accept deportees;
• The establishment of new safe and legal refugee routes.

The home secretary told MPs it is an “uncomfortable truth” that Britain’s generous asylum offer, compared with other European countries, is attracting people to the UK – and for British taxpayers the system “feels out of control and unfair”.

However, the wide-ranging reforms have drawn criticism from Labour backbenchers.

Nadia Whittome MP called Ms Mahmood’s plans “dystopian” and “shameful”, while Richard Burgon MP said she should change course rather than be forced into a U-turn later.

So far this year, some 39,292 people have made the journey across the Channel, already more than last year’s numbers, but still below the total for the record year of 2022.