Labour to end power-sharing with Greens in 11 councils over Zionism row

The Labour Party has pulled out of power-sharing agreements with the Green Party in 11 local councils, after the national party adopted a policy defining Zionism as a form of racism.

Labour councillors will no longer be in coalition with the Greens in areas including Sheffield, Warwick and Lewes.

Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson said: “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.”

Green leader Zack Polanski said the move would “backfire” on Labour and accused the party of wanting to “interrupt your local services and impose genocide support from it’s local councils”.

In October, Green Party members backed a motion, entitled “Zionism is racism”, which said Zionism was an ideology that supported an “ethnonationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine”. Israel has denied committing genocide in Gaza.

The motion also backed a “single democratic Palestinian State”, including in modern-day Israel.

Having been backed by party members, the motion became Green Party policy, but it has left senior figures bitterly divided. Jewish groups and opposition political parties have condemned it.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told MPs in October that Labour would not partner with the Greens over the “antisemitic” policy.

Labour then issued an ultimatum from Labour’s head office to Labour-Green councils, demanding that local Greens disown the motion passed by members at their national party conference.

Green groups were also asked to call on their party’s national leadership to reconsider the policy.

Labour said there were local agreements in place in 18 authorities. Of those, Labour said 11 had not met the criteria it demanded.

The areas are:

Labour said its conditions had been met in Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire and West Sussex. The party said that Coventry City Council does not have a formal arrangement in place and that no such deal will be made in the future.

It will continue co-operating with the Greens in the West of England mayoralty, where the deputy mayor is a Green member.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has said the motion was “imperfect” but has defended its central premise, arguing that Israel’s actions towards the Palestinian people are “clearly underpinned by racist ideology”.

The collapse of co-operation at the local level could impact hundreds of thousands of residents through budgets and policy decisions taking longer to get voted through.

Green and Labour councillors in the impacted areas will now have to seek alternative coalition partners or try to govern as a minority administration.

In a joint statement, the Green Party and the Local Government Association Green Group said it was “hugely disappointed” that Labour had forced local leaders into “jeopardising successful progressive partnerships that are delivering benefits for residents”.