One of Norfolk’s Labour MPs has said he will not be joining a rival party launched by Jeremy Corbyn, despite a string of recent rebellions against his government. Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, said he had not been approached to be part of the new group, led by former Labour leader Mr Corbyn and ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana.
In an announcement on Thursday night, Ms Sultana said the new socialist party would be formed with other independent MPs and activists, aiming to challenge a “broken” Westminster system.
Rebellions – but no split
Lewis has recently rebelled against the government in three major votes in as many weeks, on housebuilding and welfare reforms as well as proscribing group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. But despite speculation he may join the new group, a spokesperson confirmed that Lewis had not been approached about joining the new party and that he intends to remain in the Labour Party.
Lewis was an early supporter of Corbyn’s leadership and was a member of his shadow cabinet before quitting in 2017, as he refused party orders to back the Brexit bill. After leading Labour from 2015 to April 2020, Corbyn stepped down following the party’s loss at the 2019 general election.
Corbyn was then suspended from Labour in 2020, after he refused to fully accept the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s findings that the party broke equality law when he was in charge. At the time, he said antisemitism had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons”.
He was blocked from standing for Labour at last year’s general election and expelled from the party in the spring of 2024 after announcing he would stand as an independent candidate in his Islington North constituency, which he won with a majority of more than 7,000.
Last year, Corbyn formed the Independent Alliance with other independent MPs. In a statement on Thursday, Zarah Sultana, who herself had the Labour whip suspended last year, said she was resigning from Keir Starmer’s party and would co-lead the new party, as yet unnamed, with Corbyn.
Staying in Labour despite the divide
In an article earlier this year by East Anglia Bylines, Lewis is the most left-wing Labour MP in the region, according to a study by the University of London. Despite the growing schism between Labour’s left and the centrist leadership now in government, Lewis has made clear that he wants to remain in the party and help shape its future from within.
While he says he will not be joining the group, Lewis said its formation showed the need for his party to change direction. “I think this is one of many symptoms of more profound discontent we’re seeing across the global north – falling living standards, persistent inequality and a sense that the system isn’t working fairly,” he said.
“That frustration is pushing people away from mainstream parties and ultimately, it has overwhelmingly benefited the snake oil salesman of the authoritarian right, which worldwide has done nothing to improve things for ordinary people.
“Along with many others in my party, I’ve been calling on the government to urgently change direction, showing much more clearly that we are on the side of the many by halting cuts to social support and taking action to reduce the cost of utilities, food and housing.”
A record of independent positions
The announcement comes in the same week the prime minister U-turned on plans for welfare reform in the face of a rebellion from Labour backbenchers. These included Lewis, who joined other MPs in signing an amendment that sought to kill the new bill entirely.
Then last Wednesday, he voted against legislation to ban protest group Palestine Action and proscribe it as a terrorist organisation, saying the move “undermined democracy”. He was also one of 14 Labour MPs to rebel over housebuilding reforms contained in the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill last month.
Lewis is among critics who say the legislation, if passed, would mean nature reserves, rivers, coastal areas and broads will no longer get the same protections from development. He voted in favour of an amendment which would have compelled developers to improve the conservation status of environmental features on their land before causing “damage”. However, this was ultimately rejected by MPs.
Championing clean water and public ownership
Lewis is perhaps best known beyond Norfolk for his campaigning on water quality and his outspoken support for nationalising the water companies. He has consistently argued that water should be treated as a public good, not a source of private profit, and has criticised water companies for pollution and underinvestment. Last autumn, Lewis launched a Private Members Bill to “promote a national conversation about the future of water management and ownership in the UK”. The second reading debate was adjourned in March, after the government failed to support it.
For now, Lewis and other figures on Labour’s left appear intent on remaining within the party, continuing to push for change from within. History suggests that breakaway parties always struggle to gain traction, not least because our first-past-the-post electoral system makes it almost impossible for new movements to translate support into seats.
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