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In the past week alone, 100 people have signed up to Majority, a progressive coalition<\/a> based in the north-east of England that advocates for wealth taxes, public ownership of important utilities and upholding universal human rights.<\/p>\n It may not seem a huge number in a country of 57 million people, but it is part of a bigger picture of grassroots activity on the left that is fuelled by dismay at Labour\u2019s record after a year in government, anger over its perceived targeting of the poorest and most vulnerable with benefits cuts and explosive fury at the relentless killing of people in Gaza.<\/p>\n Almost five years after Jeremy Corbyn<\/a> was suspended from the Labour party and the left retreated to lick its wounds, there are clear signs of renewed confidence and willingness to take on those standing in the way of their principles and goals.<\/p>\n Leftwing initiatives and coalitions have sprung up. As well as Majority, there is We Deserve Better<\/a>, set up by the activist and Guardian columnist Owen Jones, who left the Labour party<\/a> after 24 years, which is raising funds to support alternative candidates<\/a>; and Collective<\/a>, a network of campaign groups and individuals led by two of Corbyn\u2019s inner circle, which claims to be the \u201cengine that will drive the formation of a new, mass-membership political party of the left in the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n Independent candidates on the left have done well at national and local elections. Corbyn, who was banned from standing as a Labour candidate in last year\u2019s election, won handsomely<\/a> as an independent. Four pro-Palestine independents<\/a> whose campaigns focused on the war in Gaza also beat Labour rivals, and another came close to defeating<\/a> the Labour star and now health secretary Wes Streeting. The resurgent Greens won four seats.<\/p>\n In last year\u2019s local elections, Jamie Driscoll, who set up Majority after being blocked from standing as a Labour candidate for the mayor of the north-east, came second with a 28% share of the vote. Majority, whose members include Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat activists as well as non-aligned community campaigners, is now aiming to take control of Newcastle city council in next year\u2019s elections. Meanwhile, at least 200 councillors across the country have quit Labour.<\/p>\n And then last week came the left\u2019s biggest move in recent years. Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South who was suspended from Labour after rebelling over the two-child benefit cap, announced she would co-lead a new party<\/a> with Corbyn. \u201cThe time is now,\u201d she said in a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two polls suggested the new party could make a mark. More in Common found that 10% of voters would back a Corbyn-led party<\/a>, rising to almost a third of 18-24-year-olds. According to YouGov, 18% would consider voting<\/a> for such a party.<\/p>\n Sultana\u2019s announcement came after Keir Starmer faced defeat over his welfare bill when scores of backbench MPs threatened to rebel. Huge concessions ensured the bill was passed<\/a>, but 47 Labour MPs stood their ground in a significant act of defiance.<\/p>\n This week, more than 100 Labour MPs backed a new group focused on living standards<\/a>. In a sign of growing activism on the backbenches, they called on party leaders to talk less about the G7 and more about the price of groceries.<\/p>\n Some of the Labour MPs who formed a group focused on improving living standards. Photograph: Alicia Canter\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Fractures in Labour\u2019s bedrock were highlighted on Friday when the leftwing union Unite said it was reconsidering its ties with the party<\/a> over its stance on the long-running Birmingham bin workers\u2019 strike. It also suspended Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Green party is facing an insurgent challenge in its leadership contest<\/a> from Zack Polanski, an anti-Zionist Jew<\/a> who advocates radical \u201ceco-populism\u201d targeting billionaires, water companies and corporations.<\/p>\n There is \u201cserious vibrancy\u201d on the left, said Rob Ford, a professor of political science at Manchester University. \u201cThe left, far from being dead post-Corbyn, has never been stronger in the form of the Greens and the independents. I would say this move by Corbyn and Sultana is a consequence of the evident desire in parts of the electorate for a leftwing alternative, rather than a driving cause of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Disappointment in the Labour government was a significant factor, but another was the \u201crapidly changing and fragmenting political landscape\u201d in which voters were rejecting the main political parties. \u201cMore than half of the electorate are consistently saying now that they want to vote for somebody other than Labour or the Conservatives \u2013 that has never happened before,\u201d said Ford.<\/p>\n \u201cMy working assumption is Labour is going to get an absolute hammering next year, from the left and from the right.\u201d<\/p>\n Even so, a long history of rancorous factionalising in leftwing politics could hamper any new party\u2019s chances of success. In the hours after Sultana\u2019s announcement, underlying tensions were exposed.<\/p>\n Some saw Sultana as a bold figurehead, while others were uneasy about formalising leadership roles too soon. Corbyn is said to prefer \u201cconsensus politics\u201d and is understood to have leaned toward a looser formation \u2013 one that builds on parliamentary independents and grassroots groups rather than a fully-fledged party.<\/p>\n Corbyn\u2019s closest allies were not on board with the timing of Sultana\u2019s announcement. Messages shared afterwards suggest some were caught unaware and had concerns about how it would be interpreted.<\/p>\n Since then, efforts to manage tensions and reconcile the two camps are believed to be in progress, with further meetings planned to re-establish a common position. Some insiders acknowledged \u201cincreasingly chaotic\u201d factionalism around the time of Sultana\u2019s announcement, and described current efforts as an attempt to \u201cstabilise the ship\u201d with a unified strategy. Informal discussions about how to chart a path forward could produce a shared position as soon as this weekend, they suggest. Others involved said the whole project could still unravel.<\/p>\n Zack Polanski is standing to be Green party leader and advocates radical \u2018eco-populism\u2019. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi\/The Guardian<\/p>\n For now, the question of leadership remains unresolved. While Sultana, 31, has long been seen as one of the left\u2019s most visible next-generation figures, some supporters say the project should be built around shared ownership and diffused power, not a single leader.<\/p>\n The veteran leftwing MPs Diane Abbott and John McDonnell are unlikely to be formally involved, in part \u2013 it is understood \u2013 because of the loose structure being discussed.<\/p>\n For all the internal discord, those involved in the embryonic leftwing party insist the project remains viable. The ambition, they say, is real \u2013 and the need, even more so. The past week\u2019s turbulence, in their view, should not be seen as failure but as evidence of how hard it is to capture a rising energy and channel it into one durable, structured form.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, some MPs on the left say that trying to shift Labour leftwards from within is a better strategy than breaking with the party. \u201cWe\u2019re still connected to the unions. Labour is an institution. It\u2019s not about individuals,\u201d they said. \u201cUntil I\u2019m thrown out or smeared, I\u2019m staying,\u201d said one leftwing MP.<\/p>\n Another figure on the Labour left said the recent rebellions over the government\u2019s welfare bill demonstrated it was possible to wield influence within the party. \u201cThese were not just symbolic moves. We\u2019re actually getting policy changed. That matters.\u201d<\/p>\n A new party would not have the reach needed to form a mass political movement, the MP added. \u201cWe\u2019re staying in \u2013 and encouraging our supporters to stay too. The last fortnight has shown it\u2019s still possible to win change inside Labour. That didn\u2019t feel true a year ago.\u201d<\/p>\n The experience of breakaway parties is not encouraging. In the 1980s, a group of centre-right Labour MPs formed the Social Democratic party, arguing that Labour was too leftwing. Despite high hopes and some early successes, by the end of the decade it had been subsumed into the Liberal party, renamed the Liberal Democrats.<\/p>\n There are already signs of discord over the formation of a new party that Zarah Sultana said she and Jeremy Corbyn would co-lead. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau\/PA<\/p>\n At the other end of the spectrum, the maverick George Galloway formed the hard-left party Respect after he was expelled from Labour in 2003. Respect was in essence a one-man band; Galloway won several elections but the party was dissolved in 2016.<\/p>\n And the challenges are not unique to Britain. In France, Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s Nupes alliance has made electoral gains but remains fragile. In Spain, Podemos surged then splintered. In Germany, Die Linke has lost national coherence, while in Italy and Portugal, left movements have fragmented.<\/p>\n Tensions \u2013 over egos, ideology, and institutional pressures \u2013 have proved difficult to overcome. The incipient Sultana\/Corbyn party \u201ccould fall apart before it even begins\u201d, said a senior leftwing Labour MP.<\/p>\n