Former Welsh Labour MP quits company linked to Your Party as internal wrangling continues

Martin Shipton

Former Cynon Valley Labour MP Beth Winter has resigned as a director of a company set up to handle membership applications for the new left-wing Your Party founded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana.

Together with former North Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll and ex-South African MP and anti-apartheid activist Andrew Feinstein, Ms Winter quit MOU Operations Ltd following a legal threat from Your Party.

MOU is understood to have collected more than £800k in membership fees as well as valuable contact data from members.

Your Party briefed journalists that legal action was planned against the trio after a deadline to hand over the money and data passed.

The resignations from MOU are the latest act in the internal squabble that has overshadowed the party’s launch.

In a statement, Ms Winter, Mr Driscoll and Mr Feinstein said: “We would like to announce our resignations as directors of MOU Operations Ltd (MOU} We set up MOU on April 2 2025 to support the creation of an alliance of progressive community independents, with Jeremy Corbyn playing a central role in its formation.

“Since that time, the nature of the project has changed significantly, as have the people involved.

“We are not founders of Your Party. We've had no part in any decisions concerning Your Party since before its creation was announced in July.

“We set up no portals, donations pages, membership systems, or anything else. We have not been involved in any of the founding processes in any way.

“The role of holding donations was thrust upon us. The company we are responsible for has repeatedly been used without our agreement.

“From the day of the launch we have raised concerns about the lack of agreement and appropriate governance. We asked the Your Party leadership to meet with us to resolve it. We have wanted to hand everything over from the beginning. Only one of their directors agreed.

“After the confusing launch of two membership systems, on the 18th and 24th September, neither of which we had any part in, we faced the added complication of MOU holding data and membership records.

“We urgently took legal advice, and on 29th September we wrote to the Your Party leadership asking them to take complete ownership and control of MOU. This would have handed over all data, money and everything else to Your Party. Five of the six MPs declined.

“Your Party demanded control of MOU's assets without accepting control of MOU itself.

“This would have left us to deal with the liabilities and costs from the confused membership launches. We cannot accept personal liability for actions that were taken without our knowledge or approval, nor could they agree to a proposed ‘resolution’ that put MOU at risk of having liabilities exceeding its assets.

“We explained in detail why these proposals were not tenable. We were told that refusal ‘will result in public condemnation’.

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“We tried many times to hand over everything to Your Party, lock, stock and barrel. You cannot simply hand over data without following GDPR regulations.

“Not everyone understands company law or GDPR. In simple terms we offered to hand over ownership to Your Party, and make the six Your Party MPs directors in our place, giving them full control. Only one of the six was willing to agree.

“We have been extraordinarily patient, and tried to resolve this quietly behind the scenes. Yout Party have claimed in emails and social media statements that we delayed the data transfer, We repeatedly asked them to stop making factually incorrect claims of this nature. They gave hostile briefings to journalists. We behaved with integrity.

“Zarah Sultana has agreed to become the sole member and director of MOU, with a commitment to use the resources for Your Party, as was always intended.

“We will resign immediately once the legal formalities have been completed. We will have no further involvement with MOU.

“We want nothing for ourselves. We have taken no money or benefit in kind.”

A grassroots member of Your Party in south Wales told Nation.Cymru: “Last weekend there was an inspiring Your Party event in Merthyr Tydfil, addressed by Zarah Sultana. It was very positive.

“Members are very frustrated at the public rows that have surrounded the party’s launch. We want to concentrate on positive community campaigning from a socialist perspective.”