A year ago, many around Keir Starmer believed the Labour left had been sealed in a tomb. The suspension of Jeremy Corbyn, the disciplinary action against Labour MPs including Zarah Sultana and the push to the political centre were supposed to fracture the party’s leftwing.
But this week’s drama, which included the prime minister narrowly avoiding defeat on the welfare bill after 49 Labour MPs rebelled, the chancellor’s tears during prime minister’s questions and Sultana announcing she was quitting the party to join Corbyn’s Independent Alliance, has shown that the forces are very much alive.
It has also shown that the votes for a populist challenge remain there for the taking, if anyone can get organised enough to harness them.
In the months after Starmer’s landslide win, figures excluded from Labour’s selection processes have been regrouping in the spaces he does not occupy: outside Westminster. Some clustered around figures such as Jamie Driscoll, the former North of Tyne mayor who was blocked from standing for Labour and subsequently quit, while others built networks in Tower Hamlets and Liverpool.
The alliance taking shape involves more than isolated groupings. It includes at least 200 councillors who have quit Labour, campaigns such as We Deserve Better, movements such as the Collective, and independent candidates along with their campaigners who share a belief that Labour has left too many voters behind.
Until recently, some on the left assumed it would take years to build anything resembling a credible electoral alternative. Organisers believe there will soon be “hundreds of people across the country” involved, and some expect unions to quietly lend support.
Before the 2024 election, some on the broader left watched Labour with a mix of frustration and resignation. “Across the wider left there’s energy and activity,” one figure said at the time. “The Labour left is in a defensive crouch. There can be purpose in strategic retreat. But if the defensive crouch is stopping you from doing anything great, what is the point?”
The timing of this week’s developments was telling. It was a reminder that Labour’s internal unity was fragile on the very issues – poverty, inequality, the welfare state – this emerging leftwing soon-to-be party is staking its claim on.
Polling conducted by More in Common shows a leftwing bloc focused on Gaza, poverty and the cost of living could attract about 10% of Labour’s 2019 supporters in urban seats.
Publicly, Labour figures have been dismissive of the threat. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, made clear the party is not concerned about the polling, saying Labour remains focused on delivering its agenda.
However, figures outside the broader left have warned about the risks. Alastair Campbell, the former Downing Street director of communications under Tony Blair, said he would not “underestimate” how much the government’s handling of the situation in Gaza has led people to question “what is Labour about?”
Sultana has a strong online following that extends beyond traditional Labour members. While her critics see her as symbolic of factional tensions, and others in the alliance may see her as “ambitious”, a label often used to consciously or otherwise diminish younger women in these political spaces, her supporters argue that concern on issues such as Gaza and deepening inequality is shared across a far wider electorate, and that she is uniquely well-placed to tap into that mood.
Some inside the alliance believe the UK left’s struggles are far from unique. It had been pointed out that even in Europe’s most promising recent example – the French alliance of greens, socialists and communists – success relied on an uneasy coalition that still only polled about 24% in the last election.
In Germany, it has been argued that attempts to hold broad left groupings together have often collapsed under the weight of internal divisions.
Corbyn’s approach to building a new vehicle has always centred on alliances rather than top-down command. He has consistently emphasised the need for different groups to coalesce – local independents, grassroots campaigns, former Labour organisers – into a joint project.
As he put it on ITV’s Peston show, his instinct is to give space to a collective process rather than impose a fixed structure. The result could be a movement with momentum, but tensions remain about how to translate political demand into an organised, cohesive force.
Others involved say the fallout from Sultana’s announcement is not as suboptimal as it looks. The sudden burst of attention in their view could force the undecided to give the project the push it has lacked.