ONE of the most exciting pledges for socialists under Corbyn’s Labour leadership was to end homelessness. A secure home should be a basic human right, alongside education, healthcare, food, and financial security in hard times. These rights are non-negotiable.

We had hoped our socialist aspirations might be realised in 2017 when Corbyn’s Labour Party came close to forming a government. However, by 2019 our hopes were dashed, and Starmer was instrumental in destroying them.

As Labour leader, Starmer has continued to destroy any hope of lasting change. Corbyn is the best of humanity, while Starmer is the opposite. He’s a moral vacuum devoid of heart and soul.

Since Starmer was gifted a landslide victory by the inept Tories, his supporters have fallen silent. His slick exterior and lawyer-speak haven’t made him popular, especially as he’s now known as the greediest political leader in British history, earning the nickname “free gear Keir.”

With his allies Robot Reeves and Callous Kendall, Starmer has waged an unnecessary and unpopular war on the elderly, disabled, and working poor, cloaking these decisions in fiscal responsibility.

However, Starmer’s support for and complicity in the genocide in Gaza really highlights the stark difference between Corbyn’s humanity and compassion and Starmer’s callous cruelty.

As a result of these choices, Labour has plummeted in the polls, while Reform is gaining traction and could even win the next general election. Reform, a party that claims to be the party of the working class, only exists to divide us and distract us. What a bleak political landscape!

The Greens are making positive moves towards a more socialist position, but a change in leadership without a working-class base doesn’t guarantee a radical shift away from neoliberal capitalism. Their local government record has been disappointing at times. We should still hope Zack Polanski wins the leadership. Any shift to the left is welcome, but the Greens still don’t feel like “home” for many socialists.

Millions of voters lack hope and trust in politics and politicians, while others are swayed by Reform’s simplistic solutions and its leader’s charm and scapegoating rhetoric. Their policy agenda is a mix of fascism and a tiny dose of socialism, which should concern us.

Decades of neoliberalism and austerity have seen living standards plummet. Voters are rightly angry at those who are stealing from them. However, many are blaming immigrants arriving by small boats when they should be blaming the wealthy sailing the Mediterranean on large yachts.

This false narrative can be successfully challenged. Let’s go back to 2017 and the general election that the Establishment has tried to erase from history. Theresa May called a general election because the polls gave the Tories a 25-point lead. The Blairites were thrilled about the impending defeat of Corbyn’s leadership. May promised sound financial management via austerity, which the mainstream media failed to question.

Corbyn claimed his Labour would invest in hospitals, schools, and people. After Labour’s successful campaign, it captured the public’s imagination and drew a clear line between Labour and the Tories. May was left weak and wobbly, while Corbyn’s position as leader was stabilised and strengthened.

This is a precursor to what could happen if a new credible left party, led initially by Jeremy Corbyn, emerges before the next general election. There’s an appetite for change, but none of the main parties offer it or can deliver it. So why would this new party be different? New left parties are often doomed to fail, so what makes this one succeed?

The answer is threefold. First, the left has given up on Labour. They can’t be guilt-tripped into voting for Labour as the least bad option when they’re one of the worst options available. Under Starmer’s leadership, the mask is off, and it’s a horrible sight.

Without a credible Labour alternative, people crave political representation that can win. The Greens may gain a new leader and radical policies, but they’re driving an old vehicle with an unreliable sat nav. People crave something new, fresh, and grassroots.

Corbyn is the obvious choice to lead a new left party. He unites the left like no-one else. His unwavering principles and sound politics over decades have made him the most trusted politician in Britain today.

This isn’t about him being seen as a saviour or messiah. It’s rooted in common sense. We trust him because he’s trustworthy. He’s the person who can stand up to the Establishment.

When I called on Corbyn to help launch a new party three years ago, I got some flak from well-meaning socialists who felt it was a rallying cry that was unfair on him. He’d been through the Establishment ringer, and it was time for him to step aside and let fresh blood take up the baton. Corbyn had courgettes to grow and jam to make. The poor man deserved a well-earned retirement.

My response was always the same: Corbyn won’t rest or retire as long as there’s injustice or war in the world. He’ll probably die at a rally giving a speech one day in the distant future. Some people never retire because they love their work. Corbyn won’t retire because he loves people.

So, it makes sense for him to do everything in his power to improve the lives of ordinary, struggling people. The next general election will be a straight fight between Reform and any opposition the left can organise. This isn’t the time for arguments about whether Corbyn should be leader. He must be leader if any new party has a chance of beating Reform.

I warned against adopting a second referendum policy in 2018 and 2019, and I’m warning Corbyn not to listen to that voice in his head that tells him he’s not special and someone else would be better placed to lead a new party. That voice is lying to you, Corbyn.

Farage is the political icon for the right, while Corbyn is the icon for the left. Reform will be exposed as a sham workers’ party when it opposes a credible left party rooted in working-class communities nationwide.

The power to unify an often fractious left is a power only Corbyn possesses, and it is crucial now more than ever due to the real and present threat from the far right. Corbyn will unite us during the initial messy and painful birth that all new parties experience. A united and vocal defence of Corbyn and each other will make us a formidable force.

Corbyn has been hinting at the emergence of the new party, including at a recent rally of independent socialists in Liverpool. He said a new formation would be set up before next May’s local elections, ideally earlier. He said everyone on the left outside Labour would want to be part of and support it, and the news of the last couple of days suggests it’s close.

Pollster More in Common conducted a poll of Westminster voting intentions, giving respondents the chance to “vote” for a hypothetical new left party led by Corbyn. An astonishing 10 per cent did so. This party was hypothetical, with no policies or PR to sell it. What sold it? Corbyn. Voters realise that when Corbyn led Labour, it had exciting policies, vision, and hope.

Now, the “grown-ups” are back in charge, and it’s a mess with no soul. That’s why Corbyn must honour his pledge to end homelessness. He must end our political homelessness, not by building a new political party; we can and should do that together. But by being the signpost that guides millions of politically homeless voters back to hope.