Transform Newsletter 23rd July 2025

 23rd July 2025

Welcome to issue 27 of the Transform Newsletter. There’s only one question right now on everyone’s lips. What’s happening with the new party ?

What’s happening with the new party ?

At the Transform members meeting on 16th July, our priorities were clear. Members want to see the new Party operate from day one in a way that’s democratic and transparent. We believe that more needs to happen soon, and we would endorse calls to those  currently holding the reins to resolve any issues with all speed and get the party off the ground.

It’s been almost three weeks now since Zarah Sultana announced that she was resigning from the Labour Party and would co-lead the founding of a new party with Jeremy Corbyn. She invited supporters to sign up on an online form, and tens of thousands did so.

The following day, Jeremy Corbyn issued a statement declaring that “Real change is coming” but flagging up that “discussions are ongoing”. There’s been little in the way of public statements since, but on numerous public platforms Corbyn and others have been reinforcing the message that the new party is coming and that hope is in the air. For instance, at the Durham Miners Gala, Corbyn told the Big Meeting “Let the message go out today from Durham, hope is on the way, change is on the way, and it’s us who will bring it.”

Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project is now running a supporter consultation to support the new party project.

In the wake of Zarah’s statement, someone gave unauthorised briefings to the mainstream media, and leaked messages posted on the Collective WhatsApp group. Transform totally condemns these actions.

It does appear that there are some differences and tensions within the lead organising group. This is no more than a bump in the road. The new party is coming. From the moment of Zarah’s announcement, excitement and expectation has been building up like water behind a dam. All indications are that a new party could swiftly attract well in excess of 100,000 members. Existing left networks such as TUSC are offering their full backing. The goodwill and support across a large section of the left is tremendous. Separate polling organisations have published polls that suggest a new party associated with Jeremy Corbyn could poll in double figures – even though that party is still unnamed and unlaunched. The force of the waters can’t be held back. Inevitably soon the dam’s sluices will have to be opened to allow the water to come rushing through.

This said, Transform has this message for the organisers: time is of the essence. The political situation is highly volatile, and he who dithers may lose control of events, thus becoming a prisoner of history instead of a maker of history.

Corbyn on the new Party

On Monday night TUSC and Collective co-organised a meeting billed as Trade Unionists for a New Party. The meeting was packed to capacity with over 1.000 people on the Zoom call, and many trade unionists spoke.

Jeremy Corbyn told the meeting “We are consulting with a lot of people very rapidly on a number of basic issues. One, the politics of the party. It must be about peace. It must be about redistribution. It must be about workers rights. It must be about environmental sustainability. It must be about public ownership and investment in housing. But above all, it has to be a political organisation that is rooted in our communities, rooted in the democratic activities of people in their communities, fighting for schools, fighting for nurseries, fighting for buses, all the things that we all spend our time campaigning on, and  linked up to workers rights. So there has to be the voice of community independents all around the country, the voice of communities all around the country, the voice of trade union members all around the country, and the voice of the political left all around the country.

There is a thirst out there for a new party. That party needs to give hope to people and bring about unity for people. Reform gained support in the local elections. They’re not a working class party, they’re not a party for the many, they’re not a party for social justice, they’re a party that seeks to blame the most vulnerable minorities in our society for all the problems.

It’s classic: blame the poor, blame the immigrant, blame the refugee, always blame the victim of a system that is horrible and vile. No refugee underfunded a school, no refugee closed a hospital, no refugee denied a child the food that they need. It is an unjust system of taxation and wealth that created all of that.

And so we fight back against Reform by giving opportunity, hope and voice to people. Let’s not be frightened of Reform. Let’s be strong, be hopeful, be optimistic, and above all be inclusive of how we bring all of our communities together to achieve what we have to within our society, to bring about that change.

I’m hopeful that we can get through this process very very quickly so that we can do a launch very very quickly so that well in advance of next year’s local elections we can have in place an organisation that supports local campaigns, supports independents in their campaigns, and comes together if you like under a common badge, common symbol, common umbrella.”

Zarah Sultana added “We know that we can’t afford to wait, but also can’t afford to get it wrong, and that’s why the founding conference must be democratic, inclusive and open to all participation at every single level.”

Action call: Campaigning for Peace

Transform’s campaigning focus for August 2025 will be on the peace agenda. The 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings is coming up, and you can find details of commemorations here.

Our main focus though is very much on the present day. Powerful nations are building up their arsenals of destruction and arming as if for war. In Europe, a war is raging with no end in sight: a war that has had massive consequences in the UK, not just in terms of the military cost, but also in its contribution to high energy prices, the cost of living crisis, the influx of refugees, and the shifting terms of the immigration debate. Meanwhile, the UK continues to provide political, military and tactical support to Israel, as the IDF lays Gaza to waste and carries out major unprovoked attacks on other countries in the Middle East. We’re clear that Israel’s actions, far from making the world a safer place, endanger peace and global security.

These are not far distant events. The drive to militarisation and war threatens every aspect of social spending and efforts to improve living standards.

Transform is absolutely committed to curtailing the sale of arms, and working for peace, the self-determination of peoples, and a nuclear-free world. The peace agenda is hand in hand with our commitment to climate action.

Linda Wall argues below why we should challenge the conventional narratives around Nato. We welcome contributions for our August issue on all aspects of the peace agenda.

Nato and the doctrine of collective security

The idea of collective security is enshrined in Article 5 of Nato’s founding treaty – “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.” The Treaty, drawn up in 1949, was designed to prevent risk of more World Wars. Public attitudes to Nato have generally been favourable, and it’s not hard to understand why: the Alliance has always enjoyed cross-party support; it’s been effective for most of its history in averting wars on European soil; and the collective security doctrine appeals to the belief that safety lies in numbers.

Throughout his time as Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn respected the fact that Labour policy was firmly behind Nato membership, and repeatedly reaffirmed UK commitment to the Nato Alliance. Perhaps a truer reflection of his views though is a column that he wrote for the Morning Star on 23 May 2012:

“Nato was founded immediately after World War II as an instrument of cold war manipulation. Although it initially restricted its activities to the north Atlantic sphere, it has steadily expanded its self-defined ‘domain’.

At no point in its history has it been overly troubled by concepts of democracy or human rights, over the years happily including or collaborating with the governments of ruthless military dictators – witness Portugal, Spain, Greece and Turkey.

Nato’s raison d’etre was thwarting the Soviet Union and its allies, not promoting social justice or humanitarianism. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, with the ending of the Warsaw Pact mutual defence strategy, was the obvious time for Nato to have been disbanded.”

Collective security

Working class solidarity as summed up in the slogan “an injury to one is an injury to all” is about standing up to bullies. Nato, on the other hand, is a bullies alliance. When Nato leaders call for greater solidarity, they’re talking about banding together in acts of aggression.

The basic premise of deterrence – that you need to stockpile weapons of mass destruction in order to prevent wars – has no relatable analogy in everyday life, and isn’t a notion that socialists should accept. In any case, since the fall of the Soviet Union, collective security has come to mean much more than deterrence. In 1999, Nato redefined its strategy to emphasize that member  states were prepared to act in conflict management and crisis response operations – effectively claiming the right to get involved in any conflict anywhere in the world. At that time, jets under Nato command were bombing Serbia, justified by Nato leaders as a humanitarian intervention.

Nato expansion

The motives for Nato expansion were more about geopolitics than any actual security threats to West European nations. By granting membership to countries like Poland, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, it was hoped to peg down these countries under the Western sphere of influence, and ensure that the Russian state could never become too powerful again.

This growth undermines the myth that Nato is a purely defensive alliance. We have to look at what exactly are Nato leaders hoping to gain from territorial expansion. In 2024, construction got under way on a huge expansion of the Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base near Romania’s Black Sea coast, which is set to become the largest Nato base in Europe. Expansion has increased international tensions, and was a contributing factor in Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

Militarisation

Militarisation has always been a core part of the Nato mission. However the end of the cold war and the growth of the welfare state saw countries cutting down on defence spending as a proportion of GDP.

UK spend on health and defence as % of GDP

In 2014, European Nato countries were only spending an average of 1.5% on defence. At a summit in Wales that year, Nato leaders pledged to increase spending to at least 2% within a decade. These pledges were however non-binding. Then in June 2025, under pressure from the USA, Nato leaders made an extraordinary new commitment: to increase spending to 5% by 2035.

Any such increase in military spending is bound to have a severe impact on welfare spending. Winning social consent for this will not be easy, especially at a time when no Nato countries are in a state of war, or threatened with imminent invasion. What we’re being told so far is that there’s a need to counter Russian aggression, and to cope with new and emerging security threats.

There are many reasons why this is a bad idea, but just to give some of the more important ones:

1. The whole of human history teaches us that building more weapons makes the world more dangerous and more conflict-prone.
2. We are diverting money away from international aid, which is a tool for reducing risk of crisis and conflict.
3. The claim that this is creating jobs is misleading. It will likely result in fewer jobs than comparable investment in the green economy, as much of the new military hardware will be purchased directly from countries like the USA.
4. Poverty levels will increase as a result of reduced welfare spending.
5. Attempts by governments to justify arms spending by playing on people’s fears will risk increasing social tensions and enabling the rise of fascist movements.

It may not be the most popular position – yet – to say that Nato membership isn’t doing us any favours. But surely we have to tell people the truth ?

Rain or shine, we stand up for Palestine !

On Saturday, tens of thousands marched through London in the driving rain in support of Palestine.

There were also big demonstrations in other cities. This was the scene in Edinburgh.

Below we see a silent protest that took place on the steps of Truro Cathedral. Devon and Cornwall police considered it a valuable use of their time to arrest the eight activists, including 81 year old Deborah Hinton OBE, on suspicion of offences under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Around the country last weekend, over 100 people were arrested for displaying placards. The free speech warriors in the national media are strangely silent.

Calendar of events

Friday 25 July: Birmingham mass picket

Thursday 4 – Friday 5 Sept: The Gaza Tribunal

Tribunal website, which includes details of how you can watch the proceedings live

Friday 5 – Sunday 7 Sept: New Organising Conference

Hosted by Liverpool Hope University. Share ideas with trade unionists, community organisers, academics, people working for campaign groups and charities, and more. View programme and buy tickets from the Conference website.

Wednesday 17 September: No to Trump’s state visit

Next Newsletter

The next Newsletter is due out on 13 August. Would you like to write something for us ? Do you have any events coming up that you’d like us to plug ? Please send all articles, reports and event announcements to us at info@transformpolitics.uk, marked for the attention of the Newsletter team.

In solidarity,

Transform Newsletter Team