Momentum warns group is “at risk” following “Starmer’s attacks on the left”

Momentum has launched a fundraiser as the group warned that the future of the left-wing organisation is “at risk” after having been “hit hard” by rising costs due to inflation and “attacks on the left” by Keir Starmer’s leadership.

In a video released on social media this morning, which forms part of a new fundraiser titled ‘Keep Up Momentum‘, members are told that “we can’t let everything we’ve built disappear” and urged to increase their subscription fee by the price of a cup of coffee in a bid to “put Momentum on a sustainable footing”.

The fundraiser is being supported by several MPs, including longstanding Jeremy Corbyn allies John McDonnell and Ian Lavery, as well as members of the 2019 intake such as Nadia Whittome, Zarah Sultana, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Apsana Begum.

A Momentum spokesperson said: “Across the country, people are crying out for real, transformative change. But Labour’s leadership is more interested in attacking the Left than harnessing our popular vision and energy.

“So instead, we’re building for for the long term. With majorities in Young Labour and Labour Students, strong bases in local government and a crop of rising star, socialist Labour MPs like Zarah Sultana and Nadia Whittome alongside training programmes to identify and train the working-class leaders of the future, the left has potential for a bright future.

“But like many organisations, right now we’re facing serious challenges. That’s why we’re asking our supporters to step up and help secure Momentum’s future, so we can keep organising for the socialist future this country needs.”

LabourList understands that Momentum’s finances have been left in a “serious but not critical” situation as costs have risen and income from subscriptions has reduced following an exodus of left-wing members from the Labour Party.

Momentum has repeatedly raised concerns with the current leadership over expulsion of members of the left of the party, and over members not politically aligned with the leadership being excluded from standing to be Labour candidates.

One Momentum source warned that, without additional income from members increasing their subscriptions, “we can’t continue to operate at the level we have been”, saying that “members and supporters urgently need to come together to secure Momentum’s future”.

A senior Labour source told The Guardian this morning that Momentum has an “obsession with damaging the Labour Party” and described the organisation that emerged out of Corbyn’s leadership campaign in 2015 as “utterly irrelevant”.