Labour gives Green councillors seven days to reject Zionism policy

Labour has said it will end power-sharing agreements with the Green Party on councils unless Green councillors disown a Green policy that describes Zionism as a form of racism, BBC.

Local Green groups have seven days to confirm that they reject the policy, which was approved at the Green Party conference. Labour said the ultimatum applies to 19 councils in which it shares power with the Greens, either directly or alongside other parties.

Labour chair Bridget Phillipson said Labour will end any local arrangement where Greens cannot provide assurance rejecting the policy. Labour wants its local groups to ask their Green counterparts for clear and unambiguous statements rejecting the policy and calling on the Green national leadership to reconsider it.

The motion passed by the Green Party of England and Wales said Zionism supported an ethnonationalist Jewish state that led to disenfranchisement and destruction of Palestinians. It backed the creation of a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine, an area that includes modern-day Israel.

The policy has divided the Greens. Four of the party's five MPs have criticised it. Leader Zack Polanski missed the conference vote while campaigning unsuccessfully in a Westminster by-election, a contest to elect an MP outside a general election. He has described the motion as imperfect and said he wants it amended in future.

The dispute puts pressure on town hall partnerships. Labour is currently in coalition with the Greens in Sheffield, Lewes and Warwick.

The two parties take different approaches to local deals. Labour councillors require approval from the National Executive Committee, the party's governing body, before entering tie-ups and must stand down from power-sharing when asked by their regional office. The Green Party of England and Wales allows local groups to make the final decision on where and whether to share power locally.