"Jeremy Corbyn’s upstart, Islamist, Gaza gang, sectarian, faction" 

Some people are starting to get nervous already I see? 

Yesterday, Jeremy Kyle, GB News presenters and Tory leadership hopefuls all went into meltdown on the announcement that Jeremy Corbyn had formed a parliamentary alliance of independent MPs. Today, Guardian columnists Archie Bland and Andy Beckett try to make sense of the threat level that the new alliance poses to Starmer and the Labour Party, especially if it evolves into "a new party of the left, forming from the ashes of Corbynism"

They start but providing a brief explanation for why a party could be on the horizon - Labour's disenfranchisement of the left (party members being hunted out of the party, left wing candidates being deselected, left wing voters being denied genuine left wing candidates who share their values) 

Beckett then argues, I think, that there's a small number of left wing MPs in parliament so they can't represent a serious threat when it comes to winning seats but they could do to Labour what Reform did to the Tories (something I covered in a recent article for Spotlight Newspaper, linked below). A left alliance could certainly deny Labour seats but there's also every reason to believe they could win seats. Beckett seems to side step the fact that the number of left MPs currently sitting in parliament was directly determined by the number of left wing candidates who were 'allowed' to stand for the Labour Party, and he forgets what was achieved under Corbyn's left wing leadership in 2017.

They then argue that, unlike Corbyn, the other 4 members of the Independents Alliance are 'single-issue candidates,' who, they claim, won their campaigns on the Gaza ticket, and Gaza is probably not going to be on the agenda at the next election, they say. I would argue 1) I don't believe they won on a single issue, 2) Gaza has been on the agenda for over 75yrs and likely will be on the agenda, in certain communities, and with young voters, until the apartheid state is demolished and the occupation is ended and 3) 5yrs is a fair amount of time for an MP to make an impact in their local community and for them to build up a broader policy profile.

A little left field was the argument that the Green Party might take issue with a new party muscling in on their territory. Personally, I imagine that the Green Party would more than likely welcome another party advocating for green policies, and will probably be inclined to collaborate with them.

Then there's the question of funding. Could a new party secure vast loans in the way that Reform were able to (from Richard Tice)? How easily they forget that, under Corbyn, the Labour Party's coffers were overflowing with membership subs and donations. Also, there's a very good prospect that they'll get some union backing and support as well.

Another question was whether they could create the necessary infrastructure required to turn out voters, pointing out that it took many years, and many incarnations, for Reform to build up their infrastructure. I would argue, 1) If the Independent Alliance decided to form a party, they would draw membership away from the Labour Party, as well as people who might feel politically homeless, and, going by Labour's membership surge under Corbyn, this will likely exceed well over 200,000 experienced activists, local constituency executive and local councilors. 2) Even with just 200,000 members, the Independents Alliance would be the 2nd largest party in the UK, in terms of membership numbers, 3) There are political movements on the left who may wish to affiliate who can help provide the necessary infrastructure, as well as bring experience to the table.

I agree, the first past the post system does make it very hard for smaller parties to gain ground in the UK, but, if my estimates are correct, this will not be a 'small' party, and, I would bet my last Rollo that the electorate will be sick of Blue Labour, just as much as they are sick of the Tories, by the time we get to the next election. In my humble opinion, unlike Reform who seem to be a party that mostly attract Tory protest votes, an Independents Alliance Party, led by Corbyn and allies, would be a far more serious threat to the status quo and could easily fill the vacuum left by the two main parties. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/04/first-edition-jeremy-corbyn 

https://spotlight-newspaper.co.uk/uk-news/08/29/massive-opportunity-for-the-left-on-the-horizon/