Britain’s Labour Party plans to end local governing arrangements with groups from the Green Party of England and Wales over its Zionism policy, The Guardian reported, citing a Labour statement, putting council partnerships at the center of a national political dispute.
The Guardian reported that Labour named 10 councils where cooperation was due to cease: Arun, Derbyshire Dales, Havant, Lewes, Sheffield, Stafford, Warwick, Wealden, West Devon and West Suffolk. It said Labour considered cooperation in Runnymede already stopped.
A Local Democracy Reporting Service report published by Sussex Express said Lewes District Council’s Green group announced Oct. 30 that its agreement with Labour had ended by mutual agreement. The reported 11-council total therefore includes arrangements at different stages, with two already reported as ended.
The Guardian also reported that Labour would maintain agreements with Green groups in Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire and West Sussex after those groups condemned the motion. It said the Labour mayor and Green deputy mayor would continue working together in the West of England mayoralty.
Green Party members adopted the motion Oct. 4 by 1,022 votes to 813, according to the party’s announcement. The party says the motion views Zionism as an ethnonational political project, argues that anti-Zionism is distinct from antisemitism and calls for one democratic state across historic Palestine.
Labour chair Bridget Phillipson said the motion “crosses a line” and that Labour could not work with a party that supported it, The Guardian reported. The Green Party and the Local Government Association Green group said they were “hugely disappointed” and argued that ending the partnerships risked harming residents, according to the newspaper.
The dispute follows Labour’s Oct. 15 demand that local Green partners oppose the motion and urge national leaders to reconsider.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it had requested information from the Green Party of England and Wales to assess the motion’s practical effects. The commission said it had not decided whether to take enforcement action, including opening a formal investigation.
