Corbyn’s new party — what changes?

Strictly speaking, this is not a political party. Together with four other independents elected in July’s general election— Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed, Ayoub Khan, and Shockat Adam— the former Labour leader from 2015 to 2020 Jeremy Corbyn has formed a parliamentary group known as The Independent Alliance.

The decision has left some leftists scratching their heads though— why not join the Green party, which shares many of his beliefs and enjoys massive support from Corbynites, instead? Simply, it isn’t in the Greens’ interests. They won the seats of Waveney Valley and North Herefordshire, half of their MPs, by winning over disillusioned green Conservatives. Corbyn could energise leftists to vote Green but it would simultaneously jeopardise their appeal to environmentalists outside of the left— Corbyn is too controversial unfortunately. I am not entirely certain, if Labour were on track to lose, that  the Greens would do better even with a Corbyn endorsement because many would vote tactically for Labour anyway.

The alliance benefits MPs within it as they can use collective bargaining to receive more PMQs questions, coordinate more effectively, and increase their support. The new group is the sixth largest group in the Commons, larger than the Greens, and on par with ReformUK.

However, the group won’t receive short money, that is financial aid to opposition parties, because they assembled post-election. The group’s first statement invited other like-minded independents to join, likely meaning the seven suspended Labour MPs.

These Labour MPs were all leftist Labour MPs and had their whips suspended for six months after voting for a SNP amendment to the King’s speech. The amendment would’ve hastily removed the two-child benefit cap, which currently affects 1.6 million children and pushes hundreds of thousands into poverty.

The Chancellor of Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, claims that removing the cap is too expensive, costing £3.6 billion, and the official Labour reason for suspending these members was because they violated a three-line-whip, rather than the specific issue of child poverty.

Nevertheless, this group of seven includes notable socialist campaigners, such as Zarah Sultana (Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group), John McDonnell (Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer under Jeremy Corbyn), and Rebecca Long-Bailey (Candidate for Labour leadership in 2020). The jury is out for whether these MPs will join the Independent Alliance or wait to re-join Labour, although the recent election has shown that independent candidates are winning more often— it is no longer as massive a risk.

The main priority for them will be the war in Gaza. All five are passionate about peace in the region and centred their campaigns on the issue. Their first statement also slams the Labour government for scrapping winter fuel allowance for 10 million pensioners; for potentially engaging in more austerity in the upcoming budget; and for their refusal to end arms exports to Israel— although the Foreign Secretary did suspend ten percent of licences the following day.

The group has just assembled though so we’ll see how beneficial it is. Parliament returns from recess soon and the budget is next month. Their response will be important to determining how this affects things going forward but expect pressure on Labour’s response to Gaza to build.