Labour councils who share power with the Greens have been told to terminate agreements if their Green partners do not condemn the party’s new “Zionism is racism” policy.
Bridget Phillipson, the Labour chair, said groups working with Green party politicians must “review” their agreements and end them unless they reject the controversial motion, which Andy Burnham called “antisemitic”.
The policy, which was adopted at the Green party conference in Brighton at the start of the month, equates Zionism, the movement for a Jewish state, with racism. It also rejects a two-state solution, and calls for Israel to be replaced by a single Palestinian state “with equal rights for all”.
On Wednesday, Burnham ruled out Labour having a partnership with the Greens. Asked about the motion during prime minister’s questions, Burnham said: “It is wrong. It is antisemitic, and this side of the house will have nothing to do with it.”
Burnham went on to state that Labour would not “support a partnership with a party that holds [the] position that has recently been adopted”. Giving further details of Labour’s response to the motion, Phillipson said Greens that were working with Labour in local government would be asked “to make clear that they reject this position and to call on their national leadership to reconsider” the policy.
She added: “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.
“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.”
Responding to the announcement, a spokesperson for the Green party of England and Wales said: “For the Labour government to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism is disappointing and wrong. Trying to tell local parties what to do and who they can work with is undemocratic.
“Whilst Labour continue to try to meddle in our internal democracy, arm a genocide and lock up protesting pensioners, we will not take lectures from them.”
The Guardian understands that local Green party councillors are unlikely to face disciplinary measures if they do condemn the motion, as the party has a highly decentralised structure and no whipping system. Several MPs and the former leader Caroline Lucas have already stated their opposition, and dissent about policy is tolerated. Southwark Greens have already disowned the policy to maintain a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
The binding anti-Zionism policy motion was passed on 4 October by 1,022 votes to 813. The 1,022 votes represented 0.4% of the Green party membership. Four of the Greens’ five MPs opposed the new policy, while the group representing European Green parties expressed dismay at the move, which runs counter to their support for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, abstained from the vote to campaign in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, which he lost.
He later said he would not have voted for the motion without amendments, which were voted down. Writing in the Guardian as fallout from the motion continued, Polanski signalled a potential overhaul of the Green party’s grassroots democracy, calling for leaders to have greater control over strategic direction after the divisive vote.
In the wake of the vote, the chair of Jewish Greens called for Polanski to resign. Other Jewish members expressed concern that they could face disciplinary action for belonging to Jewish organisations that officially support Zionism, including their synagogues.
A backer of the motion, Salma Yaqoob, a former member of George Galloway’s Respect party who is now a Green, insisted this would not happen, saying: “Nobody will be removed, challenged, disciplined, suspended because they put forward or articulate their belief in Zionism.”
However, an amendment put forward saying the motion should not be used to “pressure, proscribe or discipline members based on affiliation with Jewish community institutions” was voted down.
