Workers Party makes pay and housing pledges in election manifesto

The WPB describes itself as a socialist and working class party, which wants to bring about “a redistribution of wealth and power in favour of working people”.

Its policies include “all workers having the option of retiring at 60” and “selective nationalisation” of utility companies.

It also says it would ensure “mandatory working class representation” at the Bank of England, including on the nine-member committee that sets its interest rate.

Speaking at the launch event, Mr Galloway said his party wanted to see a million new council homes built, in which tenants would be able to elect their landlords.

He also said his party, which favours withdrawing the UK from Nato, would end “subservience” to the US, describing the UK as an American “vassal state”.

He argued the UK should end its “posture of confrontation”, warning the world was “closer to World War Three than we have ever been”.

His fledgling WPB had limited success at the ballot box before Rochdale, where former Labour and Respect MP Mr Galloway was returned to Parliament for the first time since 2015 after running a campaign focused on the war in Gaza.

Mr Galloway predicted his party would win “hundreds of thousands” of votes at the election on 4 July, but this would not result in a “proportionate” number of MPs, describing the UK’s electoral system as “rigged” against smaller parties.