Jeremy Corbyn has said talk of a new left-wing party in Parliament is a "bit early".

The Islington North MP was re-elected as an independent candidate earlier this month after he was barred from running for Labour.

He admitted to the Islington Gazette that he was “understandably nervous” on election night about which way his race with councillor and Labour candidate Praful Nargund would go.

In the end, he won comfortably, securing a majority of more than 7,000 in a seat he has held since 1983.

But Mr Corbyn was not the only independent candidate to win on July 4. Four other overtly pro-Palestine MPs now join him in the House of Commons.

The group has already worked together, alongside MPs from the Green party, SNP, Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, to oppose the Government over the two-child benefit cap.

Seven Labour MPs  lost the whip after voting for the cap to be removed.

Mr Corbyn has now said that although it is “too early” to think about forming a new party, he is eager to work with other left-wing MPs in Parliament. 

He said: “What we want to be is a significant grouping and action and force within parliament.

“We are already working with the whips of Plaid Cymru, of the SNP, and of the Greens, because we have broadly similar views on social justice, child poverty, as well as Gaza and Middle East.

“I have had very pleasant discussions with all of those parties.”

The Islington North MP called on the government to stop a legal challenge to arrest warrants that the International Criminal Court seeks to issue for Israel’s top leaders.

Rishi Sunak’s government had managed to gain court approval to submit arguments before the election, and the new government has until today (July 26) to file a legal opinion.

Mr Corbyn said he believed there might be a statement from the government in the House of Commons.

He added that despite some positive moves by the Labour government on issues such as rail nationalisation, its first few weeks have been overshadowed by the debate over the two-child benefit cap.

He explained: “I was more than disappointed that the newly elected government didn't take the opportunity to say, right, here we are, we're a new broom, we're appalled at the levels of child poverty in this country, and we will end the immorality of denying benefits to families on it who have more than two children.”

The former leader also disputed a recent assertion by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones that he does not have a “spare £3 billion a year to lift” the cap.

Corbyn said: “It’s a ridiculous argument, the Government has enormous resources at its disposal, as the crisis of 2008 to 2010 showed.

“Suddenly billions became available… to keep the banks in operation. The Government has the resources if it wants to direct them.”

He added: “My argument is that they should be much bolder and much braver on issues of inequality and poverty.

“If the Labour Government, as with any social democratic government across Europe, doesn't deliver on the frustrations of so many people, then they start to go looking elsewhere.

“And it’s the siren voices of the right that are the strong ones.”