THE Independent Group of eight ex-Labourites and three ex-Tories is in talks with the Electoral Commission about becoming a fully-fledged political party, group spokesman Chuka Umunna said yesterday.
‘The group had to become a party in order to present an alternative to the broken political system’, he said.
By registering as a party, the group, and any anti-Corbyn reinforcements can then contest seats in future elections and try to split the Labour vote to keep the Tories in office.
Speaking outside the Electoral Commission headquarters in London, former Labour MP Umunna said: ‘We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of people who have signed up to our website, who have shown support for what we are doing and want to see an alternative, to build an alternative.
‘So we are here at the Electoral Commission to explore with them how we do that.’
Former Labour MPs Gavin Shuker, Ann Coffey and Chris Leslie and ex-Tory Heidi Allen joined Umunna at the commission.
- For almost a century, the Jewish Labour Movement has been affiliated to the British Labour Party.
On Wednesday night, its 2,000 members are to decide whether or not they should leave the party.
At an extraordinary general meeting, held concurrently in London and Manchester, the JLM is to discuss whether to sever ties over the party’s handling of anti-Semitic abuse, ahead of a formal vote next month.
Jeremy Corbyn has written to the JLM urging them not to go, expressing his ‘very strong desire for you to remain a part of our movement’.
