Corbyn has endorsed three ex-Tory councillors

Jeremy Corbyn-led Your Party won’t be fielding councillors in the upcoming local elections. They will, however, be backing various independents. Now, we’re learning such independents could include ex-Tory councillors:

“Endorsed by Jeremy Corbyn”

One thing to note is that the above flyer states “endorsed by Jeremy Corbyn” rather than ‘endorsed by Your Party‘. Corbyn is free to support whoever he likes, but as the party’s parliamentary leader, people will interpret his endorsement as the position of Your Party.

The endorsement was first highlighted by the Green Party’s Mish Rahman:

Rahman was a Labour NEC member between 2020 and 2024. When defecting to the Greens in January 2026, he said:

Politics must be about clarity and courage.

We are facing a convergence of crises: the rise of the far right, a cost of living emergency pushing working-class people to the brink and civil liberties eroded by successive governments. These are not abstract threats, they are lived realities for millions.

Today I have joined The Green Party because it is prepared to confront these challenges honestly: to defend democracy, stand up for social justice, and recognise that economic fairness and environmental responsibility are inseparable.

Earlier today (2 April), we reported on Your Party’s plans for the local elections:

As party structures continue to develop, Your Party will support around 250 candidates across England. The vast majority of these will be standing as Independents or for allied local community parties.

Your Party targets
Key targets for allied groups include:

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• Tower Hamlets, run by Lutfur Rahman’s Aspire since 2022.
• Redbridge (see below).
• Newham, where the Newham Independents Party has recently won multiple by-elections.
• Bradford, where Labour’s support has been in massive decline.

Later in the day – and after the Mish Rahman tweet – New Statesman’s Ava-Santina posted that Walsall is in the mix too:

This could be ex-Tories highlighted above, or it could be the ex-Labour independents who joined Your Party last year.

Stats for Lefties engaged in the following discussion on whether the endorsement is real (we’ve got to admit; we do keep rubbing our eyes and glancing back at it):

People outside Your Party have reacted as follows:

Independents

As reported by Birmingham Live, Gaz Ali and Amo Hussain were actually deselected by the Conservatives. In other words, if they didn’t go independent, they couldn’t have defended their council seats in the upcoming local elections.

In a statement on why the three men subsequently quit the Conservative Party, they said:

Our decision is driven by a number of factors. First and foremost is the treatment of several of our colleagues within the Aldridge and Brownhills Conservative Association. The exclusion of good, hard-working councillors, individuals who have given years of loyal service, has been deeply troubling.

In particular, the failure to approve respected councillors such as Keith Sears, who has dedicated over 50 years of service to Walsall and to the Conservative Party, is something we cannot overlook.

We are also increasingly concerned about the direction of the national Conservative Party. The tone and rhetoric emerging from parliamentary leadership appear divisive and risk marginalising communities.

We have always believed that politics should bring people together, and that the party should be inclusive and unifying. Regrettably, this is no longer a position we feel able to align ourselves with.

Ah yes – the Conservative Party – those great unifiers of modern Britain.

Who could forget how unified we felt when we suffered through the devastating austerity cuts of the 2010s – cuts which didn’t touch the rich even slightly.

It just doesn’t wash, does it?

The big question is this: would the trio have quit if not for being deselected?

The answer is ‘we don’t know’.

Forgetting that, Corbyn and Your Party should have a policy of never endorsing anyone who’s ever had anything to do with the Tories.

And never in a million years did we think we’d need to explain that.

How did it come to this?

It’s not controversial to say Your Party has not turned out how many hoped it would.

Despite attracting 800,000 signups upons its announcement, the party would go on to secure a fraction of that number once it opened up to members. Since then, the party has failed to place in most polls, while the Green Party has captured much of Your Party’s initial enthusiasm.

There are good people in the party, and we know that many of them are struggling to process this latest development.

Solidarity with all those who just wanted Your Party to be a clear alternative to Labour and the Tories.

We contacted Your Party to confirm the endorsement, but had not heard back at the time of publication.

Featured image via X/Twitter