‘They lost a historic opportunity’: Ken Loach laments Your Party infighting

Loach said the theme of factional divisions in his Spanish civil war film Land and Freedom, which is being screened at Cannes, remained relevant today. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

Ken Loach has accused Your Party of squandering an opportunity to unite the left in the fight against the far right after the upstart socialist movement founded by the former Labour figures Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana became mired in infighting.

“There was great hope when Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana joined forces; 800,000 people expressed interest – that’s three times the size of a political party,” he said. “But I’m afraid some of the behaviours were very poor and they lost a historic opportunity.”