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The new leftwing party headed by Jeremy Corbyn and others has voted narrowly for it to have a ‘“collective leadership” in a win for Zarah Sultana, who has been at loggerheads with the former Labour leader.
The results were announced on Sunday after a chaotic start to its founding conference in Liverpool. Sultana, a former Labour MP who now sits as an independent, had boycotted the first day of the conference amid disagreements over how Your Party – its provisional name – should be run.
In advance of the results of voting on the party’s constitutional arrangements, Corbyn had said: “It’s quite hard for the public to grasp things that there are sort of 10 people who run things.”
However, members voted by 51.6% to 48.6% for the party – whose future name will be announced later on Sunday – to have a collective leadership model.
A new member-led executive will take the big decisions around the party’s management and strategy, with a chair, deputy chair and spokesperson helping to provide public leadership.
There were also wins for the other positions advocated by Sultana, including for members to be able to have dual-membership of other political groups.
The vote in favour of dual-membership is significant against the backdrop of in-fighting, which included Sultana refusing to enter the conference hall on Saturday in solidarity with delegates who were expelled over links to other leftwing parties, which she described as a “witch-hunt”.
Members of other parties will be eligible to join only after their party has been ratified by its executive (CEC) and conference as being aligned with the party’s values.
Corbyn had told journalists on Saturday that entry to Your Party was granted on the condition that members were not aligned with other parties registered with the Electoral Commission.
The party last week revealed a shortlist of names for its members to pick from, which will be announced later on Sunday: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance and For The Many.
Corbyn issued a call for unity as he opened the conference on Saturday, acknowledging there had been “mistakes” in the party’s foundation.
The MP for Islington North said the party had a “unique opportunity” to found “a socialist party of mass appeal” against a “triopoly of political thinking in parliament”.
The party’s foundation has been overshadowed by internal conflict, resulting in a botched membership launch and threats of legal action. Two other Independent MPs, Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed, withdrew from the party’s founding process, in part due to infighting.
Those involved are also playing catch-up with the momentum behind the Green party under its new leader, Zack Polanski, amid a battle to take on the mantle of being the leading voice to the left of Labour.
A recent YouGov poll put the Greens four points behind Labour, from a previous position in August, where 12 points separated the parties shortly before Polanski was elected.
