Labour to end coalitions with Green councils that back Zionism motion

Labour will end council coalitions with the Greens unless councillors from Zack Polanski’s party reject the declaration that “Zionism is racism”. Local Labour groups have been told to write to their Green counterparts in nearly 20 areas to threaten to pull out of co-operation deals where the pair of parties run local authorities. Most commented 1 Ukraine ‘has run out of Patriot interceptor missiles’ Russia-Ukraine war 244 comments 2 British-made drone boats used in attack on Russian port of Sochi Defence 143 comments 3 Severe drought declared in England for first time Environment 96 comments 4 Lisa Nandy ‘minded to intervene’ in Sky’s £1.6bn deal for ITV Companies & Markets 66 comments 5 Sonay Kartal trounces Jasmine Paolini to reach Wuhan Open quarter-finals Tennis 4 comments The ultimatum follows a motion passed this month at the Green Party conference that declared that Zionism — the movement that led to the creation of Israel as a Jewish state — should be “treated as any other form of racism”. Zack Polanski at the Green Party conference Carlos Jasso/Reuters Green councillors will be given a week to respond. If they do not reply or reject the motion any agreed council coalitions or confidence-and-supply agreements — where smaller parties agree to follow the minority administration’s whip on key votes — will come to an end. Top stories 1 US inflation hotter than expected as Iran war stokes fuel costs Economics The equalities watchdog has also written to the Green Party over the conference motion. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has asked for more evidence after receiving allegations of “unlawful activity under the Equality Act 2010”. Advertisement The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), which successfully reported the Labour Party for antisemitism under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in 2018, wrote to the EHRC about the motion earlier this month, saying it feared it had “real potential to embolden expressions of antisemitism”. Top stories 1 Pope Leo has ‘second good night’ after lung cancer surgery Europe 2 Should you buy shares in Vanguard LifeStrategy? Companies & Markets A spokesperson for the EHRC said the body had written to the Green Party to seek more information about the motion. They said: “As with every complaint we receive, we will assess the information provided carefully and following that consideration take action where appropriate.” The spokesman said they recognised Jewish people in Britain would feel “vulnerable” after the motion became official party policy. An amendment designed to protect Jewish Greens who attended venues that identify as “Zionist”, such as synagogues or community centres, from being reported to the party for racism was also rejected. There are 19 cases where councils are in no overall control but run due to a deal between Labour and the Greens. These include the city council in Sheffield, the county council in Monmouthshire and borough councils in Havant and Runnymede. District councils across Lewes, West Oxfordshire, North Somerset and Rother would also be affected by the move. The deals are a mixture of formal coalition and confidence-and-supply agreements, and sometimes include other parties as well as Labour and the Greens. Advertisement The Green motion caused political turmoil for the party in the final few days in the run up to the Holborn & St Pancras by-election, which Polanski came second in. Polanski with Green Party members Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Andy Burnham has previously called on Polanski to reverse the policy. On Wednesday, the prime minister also ruled out any pact in the Commons with the Greens for as long as the policy remains, saying: “It is wrong, it is antisemitic, and [Labour] will have nothing to do with it.” Bridget Phillipson, the chair of the Labour Party, said: “Where local Labour parties currently have an arrangement with the Greens in local government, we expect their Green counterparts to make clear that they reject this position and to call on their national leadership to reconsider the policy. “We have asked local Green groups to respond as a matter of urgency. Where they are unable to provide that assurance, Labour will bring any such local arrangement to an end. This isn’t an issue of party politics; it’s about doing what is right and upholding the values anyone holding public office should share. Politics newsletter Get our daily insider’s guide to Westminster, plus a rundown of PMQs every Wednesday. Sign up with one click You’ve successfully signed up to the Politics newsletter Explore our newsletters An error occurred. Please use the link below. Politics newsletter Explore our newsletters “The Labour Party fought hard to address antisemitism within our own party and ensure it had no place in our politics. We have a responsibility to uphold those same standards in our relationships with other parties.” Advertisement Green Party rules mean that the motion must now be party policy for two years but it does not necessarily need to be included in the manifesto at the next general election. The motion was passed by 1,022 votes in favour to 813 votes against, although this represents a turnout of only 0.4 per cent of the membership. Zack Polanski with Ben Jamal, then the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, in October last year Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Polanski said after his loss in the by-election that he would have voted against the motion because two amendments — including one designed to protect Jewish members from attending self-declared “Zionist” synagogues — were rejected. However, he defended the broad principle of the motion, arguing that Zionism was a “racist ideology” because it meant in practice “the displacement and genocide of the Palestinian people”. After a rough week, is Zack Polanski’s Green surge in peril? Polanski has since said that the Green’s democratic structures, which allow all members an equal vote on policy, need to change to keep up with the party’s growth. “Our party democracy must now evolve to meet that — creating wider engagement for members, giving leaders more responsibility to set the party’s strategic direction, and making our processes as robust and accessible as possible,” he wrote in The Guardian.