LAST week, five councillors in Nottingham left the Labour Party to form an independent group called the Nottingham People’s Alliance. They are in good company. Over the past three years, hundreds of others have chosen to do the same, resulting in community-based independent groups popping up in local councils all over the country.

Here in Worthing, the three of us did exactly that in May 2024, forming the Worthing Community Independents, having been central to the campaign that had won Labour the council for the first time ever just two years before — one of us standing down as deputy leader in the process.

But what’s the sense in that? Better to be in power than on the outside, some might say. The reality is none of us could stand to continue representing a party that has departed so far from the values it was founded to uphold, complicit in an ongoing genocide in Palestine and perpetuating a culture of fear among their own members of the repercussions of speaking out.

With socialist councillors leaving in droves, Labour councils are now left holding the can for a broken system that their own party continues to starve of funding, having spent years arguing against the very same policies of the Conservative Party. The lack of ambition and managed decline of the Labour government filters down to their leaders in local government, now the torch bearers of continued austerity in our communities.

Independent groups of socialists like ours have been able to make small gains. We’ve worked closely with Green councillors to push back on the local Labour administration moving funding from a locally run organisation, supporting our charities and community groups, to a start-up consultancy based in Manchester with no record of delivery. That money will now be invested back into the local community. We’ve worked with local businesses to advocate for them when the council wanted to slap new licence fees on them at short notice when they were barely recovered from the pandemic. We’ve even worked cross-party to try to demand the Labour council answer questions on the record when they voted to shut down members’ questions in a recent meeting.

The reality is however that an independent group, with no membership, central funding or resources can only do so much. To stand under the banner of Worthing Community Independents will take a long drawn-out process with the Electoral Commission, with no guarantee of success, and without it voters only see “Independent” on the ballot, with no idea of our policies or principles.

The creation of Your Party therefore presents a huge opportunity for us socialist Independents no longer at home in Labour. Why not just join the Green Party, many have asked? There is no doubt that the election of Zack Polanski has set the Greens on an exciting path, and he is clearly a huge asset to the left.

Political affinity is complicated though, and as Zarah Sultana has been laying out in recent weeks, there will be differences between the two parties. There will also be areas of the country where the Green Party cannot win, and Your Party can, places like Birmingham and Lancashire.

In many areas in the south, it will be the other way round, and socialists must be willing to back the candidate most likely to win, for the left to succeed and build a united base ahead of the next general election. We are already talking with our Green colleagues in Worthing about target seats for upcoming elections and this should be happening everywhere.

What Your Party offers us is the infrastructure of a central party that is aligned with our values, seeking to build a political alternative genuinely rooted in our communities.

Many socialist Independents haven’t had the advantage of having a group — making the brave decision to leave the Labour Party and sit as a lone Independent, an isolating position to be in.

Joining Your Party will give us all access to support, resources, funding, and crucially people, to once again deliver a message of hope on the doorsteps of our residents. For Your Party as well, this sitting base in local government provides immediate influence in communities across the country.

It’s exciting therefore that this week, Jeremy Corbyn will meet with Independent socialist councillors across the country to speak to them about the founding process, answer their questions and discuss how the process of integration might work. On the agenda will be the process of selections, accountability, local structures, policy-making and what support is needed to elect more socialist councillors in 2026.

No-one could pretend that the founding of this new party hasn’t been messy and imperfect. But having launched our local group with Zarah Sultana in Worthing two weeks ago and seen the appetite on the ground for this to work, it is incumbent on all of us to get involved in this founding process and help build an alternative to fight this rotten Labour government and the threat of Reform. Socialists in local government will be a vital part of that.

So, let’s draw on our strengths, address our weaknesses and build Your Party across the country. If you haven’t already, join today and have your say.

If you’re a local councillor, and a member of Your Party or interested in becoming one, sign up for the meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on Thursday November 6 at 7pm here: https://tinyurl.com/YPLocalCllrs.

Hilary Schan, Carl Walker and Margaret Howard
Independent Councillors, Worthing Borough Council