Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana’s Your Party reveals shortlist for official name
The leftwing party formed by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana has revealed a shortlist of names for its members to pick from: Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance and For The Many.Ahead of its first conference in Liverpool this weekend, the party is asking its 50,000 members to choose what it should be called, with the result to be announced by Corbyn on Sunday.It was temporarily named Your Party when launched over the summer, but the organisation has been beset by months of rows and infighting since then.There have been disagreements between Corbyn and Sultana over how it was launched and how money raised from members should be held.It also attracted other independent MPs including Ayoub Khan and Shockat Adam but two more MPs, Iqbal Mohamed and Adnan Hussain, have already quit amid persistent infighting and a struggle for power in the organisation.
More than 2,500 members are expected to attend the Liverpool event after being selected via a lottery system and they will agree the party’s structures, programme, and organisational strategy.One key question for debate is whether the party should adopt a single leader or embrace a “collective, lay-member leadership model”.They will also decide whether the party should support socialist independents in the 2026 English local elections.Each of the party’s MPs is expected to give a speech, alongside a series of grassroots community organisers and leftwing politicians from across Europe.Ahead of the conference, Corbyn said: “Over the last few months I’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country, speaking to people, and learning about their visions for a member-led party.
“I am very excited to get this party started and begin the work of building a majority for real political change,This is our chance to create a mass, democratic, socialist party that can be a voice for economic justice and peace,”Your Party said its approach to the conference showed they were prepared to do politics differently,Sultana said: “I’m looking forward to the Your Party founding conference, where we’ll work collectively toward our shared socialist vision,We’re building a new kind of party – rooted in and democratically accountable to a mass movement.
”The conference coincided with some Your Party members having their membership cancelled over their membership of other parties such as the Socialist Workers,Despite this ban, Sultana is backed by the Socialist Unity Platform, a lobby organisation comprising groups including the Communist party of Great Britain,
Asda hits out at government for ‘killing confidence’ among consumers
Asda has criticised the government for “killing confidence” among consumers but blamed “self-inflicted” problems that left gaps on shelves for a big reverse in sales.Total sales at the UK’s third-largest supermarket fell 3.8% to £5.1bn in the three months to the end of September compared with the same period a year before – diving back from 0.2% growth in the previous quarter
OBR challenges claims Reeves dropped income tax rise due to rosier forecasts
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has cast doubt on claims Rachel Reeves dropped plans to raise income tax in this week’s budget because of rosier forecasts, pointing out she knew about these well before the change of heart.In a move likely to exacerbate tensions with the Treasury, the OBR chair, Richard Hughes, has taken what he acknowledged was the “unusual step” of writing to the Treasury select committee to explain how its forecast evolved, “given the circumstances in this case”.Reeves’s budget was preceded by a flurry of speculation and briefing, even before the OBR accidentally made its documents available online earlier than intended on Wednesday.The chancellor took the rare step of delivering an early morning “scene setter” speech, on 4 November. This was widely interpreted as an attempt to clear the way for breaching the letter of Labour’s manifesto pledge on income tax by raising rates
Germany to urge EU to soften 2035 ban on sale of new petrol and diesel cars
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is to urge the EU to soften the 2035 cutoff date for the sale of combustion-engine cars.Merz said he would send a letter to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday urging Brussels to keep technological options open for carmakers. The sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the EU is scheduled to be banned in a decade’s time.Merz’s letter hardens the battle lines emerging between Germany’s powerhouse car industry and those pleading with Brussels to stick to its flagship green policy, which is designed to help the EU meet its 2050 carbon-neutral target.“We’re sending the right signal to the commission with this letter,” Merz said, adding that the German government wanted to protect the climate in “a technology-neutral way”
Ryanair closes frequent flyers club after members take advantage of discounts
Ryanair is shutting its frequent flyers members’ club after only eight months because customers exploited its benefits too much.The budget airline said on Friday it was closing the scheme, which offered benefits including flight discounts, free reserved seating on up to 12 flights a year and travel insurance.It said 55,000 passengers had signed up to Prime, generating €4.4m (£3.5m) in subscription fees but customers had received more than €6m in benefits, making it a lossmaker for the company
JP Morgan boss gave go-ahead for new £3bn tower in London after UK assurances
The boss of JPMorgan Chase approved plans for a new £3bn tower in London after a senior adviser to the UK prime minister travelled to New York to reassure the bank over the government’s pro-business stance, it has emerged.The Wall Street bank, which along with Goldman Sachs announced substantial investment plans in the UK hours after they were spared tax increases in Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget, only signed off on the plan for its new UK headquarters last Friday.This followed a trip to the US by Varun Chandra, Keir Starmer’s business envoy, to meet Jamie Dimon, the chair and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, according to the Financial Times.The visit came days before the chancellor announced £26bn in tax rises in a budget that did not impose higher levies on banks, after furious lobbying by the sector.The Treasury had not decided whether or not to increase taxes on banks when Chandra flew to New York, according to the Financial Times
Pub chain Mitchells & Butlers faces £130m hit from rising wage and food costs
The All Bar One owner, Mitchells & Butlers, has warned that it is facing about £130m in extra costs over the next year because of a soaring wage bill and rising food prices.The group, which also owns brands including Toby Carvery, Harvester and Miller & Carter, said the cost increases were largely being driven by April’s increases to the minimum wage and employers’ national insurance contributions.The company also said it was facing increases in food costs, particularly for meat.The additional bill also includes a “preliminary assessment” of the impact of Wednesday’s budget, which included an above-inflation rise in the minimum wage from April. The national living wage will rise to £12
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