Sultana halts legal action to pursue unity with Corbyn as Your Party faces rift

Zarah Sultana has dropped planned legal action and said she is seeking to reconcile with Jeremy Corbyn as their left-wing project, Your Party, navigates a public rift over membership drives.

Ms. Sultana, the Coventry South MP who quit Labour to help build the new movement, had clashed with Mr. Corbyn over the pace and management of sign-ups. Mr. Corbyn publicly criticized an 'authorised email' sent to supporters and urged members who had paid up to £55 for membership to cancel their direct debits, while Ms. Sultana defended the portal as safe, secure and legitimate and said supporters should 'sign up now'. She described the dispute as a struggle against a 'sexist boys' club' within Your Party and said she had been 'frozen out.'

On Sunday, Sultana issued a statement saying she would not pursue legal proceedings, despite what she called baseless and unsubstantiated allegations against her. She said she was determined to reconcile and move forward, and that she was in ongoing discussions with Corbyn, for whom she has 'nothing but respect.' The pair remain committed to a 'genuinely democratic conference and socialist party' centred on grassroots participation, she added.

The dispute has reverberated beyond the two leaders. Thelma Walker, a former Labour MP who served from 2017 to 2019, told The London Economic that the 'embarrassing meltdown' within Your Party helped push her toward joining the Greens rather than pursuing a Labour-Green alliance, saying the public spat demonstrated that neither Sultana nor Corbyn were fit to lead a party following their highly public disagreement.