Adrian Ramsay urges Green councillors to reject Zionism motion to protect council coalitions
The former Green co-leader says councillors who oppose the party’s conference motion should say so, as Labour pressures local groups to end power-sharing deals.
Adrian Ramsay has urged Green councillors in England and Wales who oppose their party’s newly adopted ‘Zionism is racism’ motion to say so publicly, as council coalitions face pressure over the policy. The Guardian reported on 20 October that the former Green co-leader wants joint administrations preserved where possible.
In a statement to the Guardian, Ramsay said groups still deciding their response should make their opposition clear if that reflects what they believe. He said that could reassure residents and allow councillors to continue their work locally. Ramsay, one of the Greens’ five MPs, had opposed the motion before the conference vote, the Guardian reported.
Why Green council coalitions are under pressure
Labour has told its local parties that share power on councils with Greens to end those arrangements unless the local Green groups disown the motion, according to the Guardian. Ramsay called Labour’s ultimatum predictable and said he understood why councillors might resist being pushed into a statement by a national party directive.
But Ramsay said it would be ‘incredibly sad’ if joint administrations folded. He argued that the alternative could be a right-wing coalition that might put services at risk. The Guardian named Green council groups in Lewes, Warwick, Rother and Havant as having rejected the motion. It said Southwark Greens disowned it to maintain a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
Ramsay praised groups that had spoken out and said the party’s position on Gaza should be combined with support for both Palestinians’ and Israelis’ rights to statehood and self-determination. He described the conference motion as a distraction from councils’ work and said he did not believe most party members supported it.
What the Greens voted for and Polanski’s response
The Green Party’s published account of its 4 October conference vote says members adopted the policy by 1,022 votes to 813. The motion opposes Zionism as it defines the term and calls for a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine. The vote was a party decision; Ramsay’s appeal concerns how local council groups respond to it.
Party leader Zack Polanski told the BBC he would not seek to overturn the policy but wanted to amend it at the first available opportunity to remove the call for a single Palestinian state, the Guardian reported. His position differs from Ramsay’s public advice to councillors. The future of councils whose Green groups are still deciding their response remains unsettled.
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Sources and context
- Ex-Greens co-leader urges council groups to reject Zionism policyThe Guardian
- Green Party adopts anti-Zionist policyGreen Party of England and Wales
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.