Almost a fifth of voters would consider voting for a new hard Left party led by Jeremy Corbyn at the next election, a shock new poll suggests today.
As the former Labour leader gears up to form and potentially head a new socialist body some 18 per cent of Britons say they could back it.
Mr Corbyn, 76, last week said there was a ‘thirst’ among voters ‘for an alternative view to be put’ forward.
And one of his allies, Zarah Sultana, quit Labour saying she would co-leader a new party with him.
A poll by YouGov today shows that more than half of people who voted Green in the general election last year would consider backing a new Corbyn party.
But in a sign of discontent with Labour under Sir Keir Starmer, almost a third (30 per cent) of those who backed him last year would now think about backing his predecessor.
The figures show that the introduction of a new party could create a six-way split in UK politics, with all the parties having a vote share between 30 and 18 per cent.
Mr Corbyn has sat as the independent MP for Islington North since being suspended by Labour in 2020 for downplaying the extent of anti-Semitism in the party under his leadership.
As the former Labour leader gears up to form and potentially head a new socialist body some 18 per cent of Britons say they could back it.
Mr Corbyn, 76, last week said there was a ‘thirst’ among voters ‘for an alternative view to be put’ forward. Hew will be nearly 80 by the time of the next election.
He was expelled last year but retained his seat in the general election, since when he has been part of the Independent Alliance, a loose grouping of independent MPs with left wing political views.
Appearing on ITV‘s Peston last week – after opposing plans to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group – he said he was working with groups ‘all around the country’
‘That grouping will come together. There will be an alternative view and there will be an alternative put there which is about a society that deals with poverty, inequality and a foreign policy that’s based on peace rather than war,’ he said.
Asked if he would like to lead the party he said: ‘I’m here to work, I’m here to serve the people in the way I’ve always tried to do.’
The next day Ms Sultana, the Coventry South MP, 31, quit Labour saying she would co-lead a new outfit with the former party leader, who will be almost 80 by the time of the next election.
But Mr Corbyn has been much cooler about his role after apparently being caught off-guard with her announcement late on Thursday night.
The next day he said ‘discussions are ongoing’ – saying Ms Sultana would ‘help us build a new alternative’ but stopping short of endorsing her as a ‘co-leader’.
Mr Corbyn has sat as the independent MP for Islington North since being suspended by Labour in 2020 for downplaying the extent of anti-Semitism in the party under his leadership.
YouGov asked more than 2,500 adults to say on a scale of 1-10 how likely they were to consider voting for different parties, using scores of 6-10 to five a percentage score.
Support was highest among those aged 18 to 24, where more than a third (36 per cent) would consider backing a Corbyn party. Support was also higher in London (29 per cent) than anywhere else.
However, it found that 91 per cent of those considering backing a Corbyn party were also open to voting for other parties as well, showing again how fragmented UK politics currently is.
‘A key problem for the new party is that considering voting for a party is not necessarily the same as voting for it, especially when your supporters are open to voting for other, more established parties as well,’ a spokesman said.
‘Indeed, just 9 per cent of those who are open to considering voting for Corbyn’s new party (amounting to 2 per cent of all Britons) are not willing to consider voting for any of the five existing significant national parties.’
