The prospect of establishing a new political voice for the working class to challenge the continuity Tories of Keir Starmer’s New Labour party is now closer than ever!  On Thursday 3rd July the MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana announced her resignation from the Labour Party and her intention to work with Jeremy Corbyn to help found a new party.

Trade unionists will be critical in building a new party and shaping it to make it not just for, but of, the working class.  It is the unions, the already existing mass organisations of the working class, who possess the resources, mass membership, and social cohesion necessary to reach millions of people across all working-class communities and burst the Reform bubble.

After the elections in May this year, which saw gains everywhere for Reform, a number of senior trade unionists started a petition calling for the unions to take the lead in building a new working class party.  To this point the petition has been signed by 41 current and former members of trade union executive committees and over 1,600 trade unionists from all levels of our movement.

Now, after Jeremy and Zarah’s announcement, it is necessary to discuss the next steps to be fought for in every union, with a national Zoom meeting organised on Monday, 21st July, at 6:30pm to begin the job.

Get involved!  Sign the petition online at https://www.change.org/TradeUnions-LaunchANewParty  And register at https://tinyurl.com/Register4TUnewpartymeeting to receive a link to the meeting.

A template to print out paper versions of the petition to use at meetings, demonstrations or for individual discussions with other trade unionists can be downloaded at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Petition-template-update.pdf ■