THE

slump in Labour membership, now below 500,000 from a 650,000 high under Jeremy Corbyn, is a serious worry for Sir Keir Starmer and his cash-strapped party. It’s not just activists who have quit because they are disillusioned with his leadership. Thelma Walker, the Labour MP for Colne Valley from 2017-19, has also gone. ‘I have left the Labour Party after 40 years as it has ceased to be broad, welcoming or democratic,’ she says in a letter to The Guardian. ‘Labour has lost its soul and its core purpose of opposing the Tories and achieving social, economic and climate justice.’