Labour has today formally begun divorce proceedings with Green council groups that failed to disavow the antisemitic ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion. Co-operation agreements in 11 local authorities are set to end.
In a surprising twist, given Andy Burnham’s track record of pandering to Islamists, Green councillors were handed an ultimatum last month: distance themselves from the policy or stop working with Labour colleagues on town halls.
The responses were reviewed by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, which confirmed today that the conditions had not been met in 11 local authorities. Among them are Derbyshire Dales, Sheffield, Wealden, West Devon, West Suffolk and Warwick.
Six councils did meet the conditions set by Labour chair Bridget Phillipson: rejecting the policy and calling on the party’s national leadership to reconsider it. Those ever so slightly more principled councils – the bar being extremely low – are Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire and West Sussex.
Commenting on the break-up, 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. 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.
The Labour Party fought hard to root out antisemitism within our own party and ensure it had no place in our politics. Our action is a demonstration of how today’s Labour Party will not shirk from the responsibility we have to uphold those same standards in our relationships with other parties.
Responding, a Green spokesperson said: ‘We are a democratic party that trusts local leaders to make the right decisions for the people they represent. The range of responses to the ultimatums reflects the diversity and anti racist nature of our Party and of local circumstances and partnerships across the country.
‘The Green Party believes top-down directives to break up and disrupt locally-run services are not in the interests of the residents we represent. We trust local communities, local councillors and local leaders to know what is best for them. We ask that others do the same.’
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