Labour tells councils to end Green deals unless Zionism policy rejected

Labour has told council groups that share power with the Greens to end those arrangements unless their local Green partners reject the Green Party's new policy that Zionism is racism.

Labour chair Bridget Phillipson said Labour groups working with Green politicians must "review" their agreements. She said Labour will end local arrangements where Greens cannot provide assurance rejecting the policy, The Guardian reported.

Phillipson said Greens working with Labour in local government would be asked to make clear they reject the policy and to call on their national leadership to reconsider it. She said local Green groups had been asked to respond as a matter of urgency.

The policy was adopted at the Green Party conference in Brighton at the start of October. It 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".

The binding motion was passed on 4 October by 1,022 votes to 813. Those 1,022 votes represented 0.4% of Green Party membership.

The vote has divided the Greens. Four of the party's five MPs opposed the new policy, as did former leader Caroline Lucas. Party leader Zack Polanski abstained. The group representing European Green parties expressed dismay at the vote, which runs counter to their support for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

Some local groups have already distanced themselves. Southwark Greens disowned the policy to maintain a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Andy Burnham has ruled out Labour having a partnership with the Greens. Speaking during prime minister's questions, he said: "It is wrong. It is antisemitic, and this side of the house will have nothing to do with it."