18% of Britons say they are open to considering voting for a left-wing party led by Jeremy Corbyn at a future election
Last week, ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana said she was founding a new left-wing party, which she would co-lead with Jeremy Corbyn. While this followed months of speculation about a new Corbyn-led party, there was confusion about whether the former Labour leader was actually involved, with him since saying that discussions about a new party are ongoing.
Regardless, it does appear that a new party is on the horizon, but how much appetite is there for it?
One in six Britons (18%) say they are likely to consider voting for a new left-wing party led by Jeremy Corbyn. This is, though, less than for the existing major parties, with 30% saying they are likely to consider voting Labour at the next election, 28% saying so of each of the Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and Greens, and 24% similarly open to considering the Conservatives.
The greatest willingness to consider voting for this new party comes among those who backed the Greens at the last general election, 58% of whom say they are open to backing a Corbyn-led project. This is also true of 31% of 2024 Labour voters and 21% of those who backed the Lib Dems last July.
But a key problem for the new party is that considering voting for a party is not necessarily the same as voting for it, especially when your supporters are open to voting for other, more established parties as well.
Indeed, just 9% of those who are open to considering voting for Corbyn’s new party (amounting to 2% of all Britons) are not willing to consider voting for any of the five existing significant national parties. However, a greater 32% (amounting to 6% of the public as a whole) give the proposed party a higher likelihood to consider score than any other party.
One in seven of those who voted Green last year (15%) give Corbyn’s party a higher consideration score than any other party, as do 9% of 2024 Labour voters and 4% of 2024 Lib Dem voters. But just 1-2% of each party’s 2024 voters say the ‘Corbyn party’ is the only one they would now consider backing.
Of course, this leaves 91% of those likely to consider voting for a new left-wing party led by Jeremy Corbyn who are also open to voting for other parties. The greatest overlap is with the Greens, with 70% of Corbyn considerers also open to backing the environmentalist party at the next election, while around half (48-51%) say the same of Labour or the Lib Dems. Additionally, 11% of those likely to consider a Corbyn-led party are also open to voting for Reform UK.
What do Corbyn’s voters look like?
The appeal of this potential new party is higher among younger Britons. More than a third of 18-24 year olds (36%) say they are likely to consider voting for such a party in future, compared to 23% of 25-49 year olds, 13% of 50-64 year olds and 10% of over 65s.
Support for such a party may also end up concentrated in London, with 29% of Londoners willing to consider voting for the as yet unlaunched party, compared to 15-19% in other regions of Great Britain.
Perhaps surprisingly, willingness to consider a left-wing Corbyn-led party is higher among those classed as living in middle-class households (21%), than those classed as living in working-class households (16%) - known in the parlance as ABC1s and C2DEs, respectively.
Would you be likely to consider voting for a new left-wing party led by Jeremy Corbyn? What do you think about Britain’s political parties in general, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
Photo: Getty