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. 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.
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.
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