Corbyn & Sultana's New Party Now Largest UK Party by Membership

Your Party UK graphics obtained from Jeremy Corbyn MP's Facebook

NEW YORK – There's a momentum for Mr. Jeremy Corbyn & Ms. Zarah Sultana's political party in the UK, with 500,000 people opting-in to help build the party and receive updates on it, which would suggest a potential party membership of similar numbers. These numbers alone would suggest that the nascent “Your Party” would be the largest political party in the UK by membership, being on-par with the Labour party’s former membership numbers during Corbyn’s leadership (Labour’s membership has fallen significantly under Starmer, so much so that Labour no longer publishes party membership numbers). So, what exactly could this new leftist socialist party in the UK mean for the state of UK politics?

To answer that question, we have to look at the state of politics in the UK right now. In short, the big losers of the day are the Conservatives, who have fallen (in hypothetical polling including Your party) to 4th place, past Reform UK and Your Party. This hypothetical result would be absolutely catastrophic, it would lead to an atrophy of members and the death of a party centuries years old. Make no mistake, while this writer relishes the chance to see the death of the Tory party, the rise of Reform is much, much worse than the big-tent conservatives coming back to government. The second biggest loser is Labour, losing about half of their vote share, and the vast majority of their seats to Your Party and Reform UK.

Reform UK, depressingly, are the big winners of this hypothetical polling. They would win a large majority of seats in the house of commons, and they would completely decimate both parties in the remote center. The Liberal Democrats also win some territory, also clinching the official opposition title. Your Party, despite being on par with Labour in vote share, would only win a couple dozen seats at most- doing decently, but not well enough to win either the official opposition title nor a majority for government. 

With the not-so well polled hypothetical of Your Party being officially formed being gamed out, it has become clear that while the party has some traction, they do not have nearly large enough of a voter base to win the official opposition title, or take the hallowed halls of parliament. That being said, we are still 4 years out from the next General Election, and Corbyn and Sultana’s party will likely be a thorn in the side of Starmer’s Labour for years to come.

It is certainly possible, in fact, even likely, that Corbyn and Sultana are able to utilize their sizable voting base and membership to pressure Mr. Starmer to grow a spine, and regrow certain leftist policies that were promised by him in the past. As Reform UK has done to force Starmer to the right on immigration, it is likely that Mr. Corbyn and Ms. Sultana's party will be able to pressure Starmer's government to the left on economics and health policy, where they have the most sizable support (particularly on issues such as affordability).

If they are able to do this successfully, it is likely that Starmer will have ended up legitamizing their policies, and allow them a great deal of leeway and a large boost in their support, as Labour have foolishly managed to do with Reform UK's immigration policies. If, this boost of support in policies from the government materializes, and a subsequent legitimization and boost in polling is lent to Your Party, then we may very well see Sultana and Corbyn's party become a force to be reckoned with in UK politics, possibly making a roadmap for their party to win a large number of seats, and in a particularly divided parliament, making it possible that Corbyn & Sultana's party becomes to official opposition, or at least, come very close to it. With possible adoptation of a Welath Tax currently being heavily discussed in British media, it seems that this path to power is becoming more and more likely.

It seems that Corbyn and Sultana’s party will be able to change the future of british politics, and change the course of UK governance to some non-neglible effect. While it doesn’t seem that they are likely take over from Starmer’s government, their sizable base of supporters both in membership and in hypothetical polling, and their strong set of policies that will appeal to young voters (especially those 16 & 17 year olds who have recently been  given the right to vote by Starmer’s government). One could only hope that this party is a force for the better, and forces Starmer’s government to pivot to a much needed leftward turn, and doesn’t shoot the left in the foot and allow a Nigel Farage premiership to become an ever-more certain thing.