Jeremy Corbyn has insisted that Your Party is united after a turbulent first few months marred by infighting and division with his co-leader, Zarah Sultana.
Speaking at the party’s first conference in Liverpool, he said the party had now come together “because division and disunity will not serve the interests of the people that we want to represent”.
The former Labour leader said: “Last night here in Liverpool, we had a number of events on and Zarah (Sultana) spoke at a great rally, and I very happily and proudly sent a message to that rally – and I was grateful that it was read out to that rally – of support and solidarity.
“I was at a poetry and music event at the Black E, and Zarah sent a message to that.
“As a party, we’ve got to come together and be united because division and disunity will not serve the interests of the people that we want to represent. So that’s the basis on which we launch the party now.”
His statement of unity follows a turbulent first few months for the party fraught with internal division as Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana’s dispute led to a botched membership launch and threats of legal action.
Ms Sultana complained she had been subjected to a “sexist boys’ club” after supporters were invited to officially sign up and give the party financial backing. But Mr Corbyn described this as an “unauthorised email” and just hours later warned people in a statement posted on social media not to sign up via the link.
Two MPs who helped to set up the outfit have also quit; last week, Iqbal Mohamed said in a statement that he had decided to leave Your Party and continue to serve his Dewsbury and Batley constituency as an Independent MP. Earlier this month, MP Adnan Hussain said he was withdrawing from the party’s “steering process”, citing concerns about factionalism and “veiled prejudice” against Muslims.
The former Labour leader called for a “membership oversight committee” to “steward” the establishment of Your Party branches in his conference speech, and said he wanted to see control of the party given to its members “as soon as possible”.
He went on to turn his criticism to his former party, as he countered the way he and Ms Sultana were running Your Party with the “top down” nature of Labour.
“I’ve had enough of top down parties. I spent a lifetime in the Labour Party, mostly fighting Labour Party bureaucracy. I don’t want to repeat that in Your Party. I don’t want to repeat that experience.”
Mr Corbyn went on to criticise Labour’s recent decisions regarding immigration, which include making refugee status temporary, subject to reviews every 30 months, and sending refugees home if their country is deemed safe.
“We’ve got to challenge the government,” he said. “They have fuelled the whole hatred towards refugees. I say to all those people that thought they were going to get something better. Think again. What you’re seeing is an attack on human rights.
“What you’re seeing is an attack on our civil liberties. We are not joining in that attack. We’re on the other side of that.”
Labour’s recent Home Office decisions have sparked praise from Reform, with former Conservative MP Danny Kruger, who defected to Nigel Farage’s party, saying in Commons earlier this month: “I welcome the rhetoric that the Home Secretary has announced.”
Mr Corbyn continued in his speech: “If you want to defeat Reform, you don’t do it by copying what Reform do. You don’t do it by attacking jury trials, slipping away our civil rights or our right to protest. What we need is something radical, a socialist alternative, rather than a fake populism of Reform or others. And it’s up to us, our party, your party, to provide it.”