Half-a-million members sign up to new left-wing party founded in Britain

It's going to be very interesting to see what happens here, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, registering for a mailing list isn't joining a party.

I worry it will just split the Labour vote and result in easier wins for competing parties.
- As a lifelong labour supporter, I get what you mean, but ultimately feel as though I've been duped by this logic one time too many; the labour party are closer to the modern tories than they are the labour that brought us reforms like the NHS and so on.
  I'm tired of labour being the only viable option because they're the limp-dicked version of the Tories; Corbyn was the closest we got to seeing a supposedly left wing party actually introduce some socialist policy; and look at the furor that kicked up in the papers... The powers that be were clearly concerned about him, as we had a real chance for change (particularly with him having sights on taxing the rich their fair share) but instead he was smeared and the party showed its true colours by jumping at the opportunity to oust him.
  No man or woman is above corruption; and people shouldn't blindly follow anyone; but Corbyn has a lifetime record of activism... So if the options are Tory lite Vs a new party led by a lifetime activist. The question for me isn't; "will this split the labour vote" but rather "why would anyone continue to vote labour, despite it being ultimately fruitless?".
  It wasn't the Tories that just said no to a 500k strong petition to repeal the online safety act afterall. Fuck the Tories and fuck the Tory lites.
- I feel like Reform are more likely to split the conservative vote than Jeremy Corbyn is likely to split the Labour vote. Mostly because the left has a very complicated relationship with him, he's truly awful at being a politician.
  Meanwhile Farage is a good politician, he's good at playing up to a crowd, he's good at taking advantage of controversy.
  Also of course signing up to the party newsletter doesn't mean that you'll vote for them when the time comes. A lot will be doing it to try and send a message to labour. I've signed up to the newsletter but I'm not particularly inclined to actually vote for them. Not unless labour gets substantially worse.
- I mean, we've already seen where sticking to established parties leads. Can't play the same game and expect different results.

I'm not British so I probably shouldn't get involved in British politics.

I think Britain needs the following reforms :

1. Nationalize all water companies.

2. Increase taxes on soda, sugar. Use the money to pay nurses and doctors better

3. Cancel Microsoft Windows contracts and switch to Linux. Cancel Microsoft Office contracts and switch to LibreOffice. Open Source can save the UK Government billions of pounds and improve national sovereignty.

4. Cap immigration at 2% a year. It's very clear to me that immigration in recent decades has been far too high. It has undermined the labor market, the housing market, and it may undermine national cohesion.

5. Reform the UK campaign finance system. Why are foreigners allowed to wire money to UK political parties? Why is there no cap on donations? Britain has the most corrupt campaign finance system after the United States. Being better than the US is the same as having no standards at all.

6. Ban MPs from having second-jobs. It's totally absurd. Many of them work as "consultants" or "lawyers" for big corporations. Many European countries banned these shady practices, but Britain somehow can't get itself to do it.

7. Change the voting system to Proportional Representation. First-Past-The-Post creates disillusionment and anger. If nothing is done, FPTP may give Nigel Farage an absolute majority with only 30% of the votes.

8. Reform the House of Lords. Currently, it's a joke. The overwhelming majority are from London and Southern England. They have lifetime job security. Several of them get paid just to show up, they play cards with friends while drinking tea. They vote for insecurity for everyone, except for themselves? Transform it into a House of Nations. With 200 people from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. No centralized political appointments. They will be chosen by Mayors and Local Councillors.

9. Increase tax on private jets fuel. France did it . The low rate they pay is a scandal considering climate change and inequality. There is absolutely no reason why Britain can't do it.

10. Ban foreign newspaper ownership. It shocks me that a foreigner (Rupert Murdoch) is allowed to own many newspapers (The Sun, The Sunday Times, The Times). He directly told John Major to change UK Foreign Policy. Why is nothing done about this? Because Murdoch is a white Australian? I feel that if a Chinese or Turk told the Prime Minister what to do, people would scream "foreign interference". Foreign ownership of any British newspaper should be capped at 40%.

I respect Jeremy Corbyn and I hope he can get these 10 things done.

My main worry about him is foreign policy. He once called Hamas and Hezbollah "my friends" (1). He first refused to believe Russia ordered a chemical attack in Britain (2). He refused to send weapons to Ukraine after Putin invaded (3).

Too often, he just assumes that because the West has done evil things, the anti-Western forces are the good guys.

Agree with most of that. Immigration doesn't need capping though. Firstly it's not even 2% now, it's not even 1%. Net migration in 2024 was 0.6%.
One big thing you missed was create a homestead housing tax system that taxes the hell out of you if you own a home you don't live in. This incentivizes landlords to drop properties and for homeowners to purchase homes. It will crash the housing market but also Make a law that forbids home ownership to a corporate entity. To get the stockmarket out of home trading.
I agree with pretty much everything you say except the immigration thing.
If you actually look at the statistics rather than listening to all the rhetoric you'll realise that immigration into the UK really isn't a problem. The main problem with the housing market isn't immigrants who make up a tiny fraction of the people looking for a house, the main issue is that consecutive governments for years on end have not built enough houses.
The reason for this is actually pretty simple, it doesn't cost much more money to build a house that will sell for a million pounds than a house that will sell for £100,000, so contractors build loads of expensive homes because it's more profitable. What the government needs to do is force a minimum number of affordable houses to be built per year. Make it so they have to build affordable homes
- A land value tax would fix this

I hope they make a deal with the greens and manage to not split lefty votes too much.

that is orders of magnitude more than Farage's brain cell count

it's only like half a million more

Wait until they find out what he thinks of Russia Vs Ukraine.

Why can't we have a normal party?

First of all I disagree with Corbyn's position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Corbyn is ideologically anti-war, and has a long history of that. He is wrong on this war but his position is at least respectable.
On the other hand, people are voting Farage in who is actively colluding with Russia. So 🤷
- I'm just not sure why they're giving what is basically two independent MPs so much airtime when the Green party is right there, already opposes Russia and Israel, and dislikes the online safety bill.
  I'm sick of voting so the wrong lizard doesn't get in. It clearly still means being ruled by lizards. Our voting system is unfit for purpose, as Farage will prove as he kicks out the foreigns, sells the NHS and brings back smoking in pubs, on like 25% of the vote.