‘Zionism is racism’ motion damaged Greens electoral ambitions, admits former party leader

A former leader of the Green Party has reportedly admitted that the controversial “Zionism is racism” motion passed at its conference last month has limited its electoral ambitions. According to The Times, Carla Denyer, who served as the party’s co-leader alongside Adrian Ramsay between 2021 and 2025 and is still its MP for Bristol Central, told an internal meeting that the motion, which is now official party policy, had created a “difficult environment” for it to win votes.

“Advancing this motion probably does put a hard cap on our electoral ambitions as a party, reducing our membership, reducing our number of councillors, and funding,” she is reported to have said. And, while she reportedly agreed with sections of the motion calling for stricter sanctions against Israel and the deproscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group, she spoke out against the section which called for a single Palestinian state to replace Israel.

“There were other things in the motion that I couldn’t support including, in particular, the Green Party of England and Wales appointing itself as the decider of what the constitutional settlement [should be],” she said. “We believe in self-determination, and so I really don’t think it’s for a party in England to say, ‘actually, we know better than people who live there’. “And I think doing so is in danger of being next-generation imperialism.

So there are parts of that motion that I support, [and parts I] didn’t think were constructive.” Party leader Zack Polanski, who was previously Denyer and Ramsay’s deputy, has also taken issue with that section of the motion, saying he would look to amend it at the next opportunity – 2027 under party rules. However, he told the BBC last month that he would not seek to overturn the motion and that he agreed with the contention that Zionism in its practical application was “underpinned by a racist ideology”.

It comes after Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) confirmed on Monday that the party would end power-sharing agreements with the Greens on 11 local councils across the country. The two parties have collaborated at a council level in several areas where neither of them could form their own majority administration since last May’s local elections. But the NEC ordered councillors to dissolve such coalitions unless their Green counterparts had disavowed the motion.

“Labour has been clear from the start that the ‘Zionism is Racism’ policy crosses a line, and we cannot work with any party that supports it – at any level of government,” said Labour Party Chairwoman Bridget Phillipson. In response, Polanski accused Labour of “trying to bully everyone into defending genocide” and “putting Israel far above serving our local communities”. Asked about Denyer’s reported comments, a Green Party spokesperson said: “This short extract taken from a longer, private, members meeting makes it clear that Carla Denyer was not talking about a lasting impact on overall electoral success, but discussing as part of the ebb and flow of debates that take part in political parties all the time.”