Former Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay is seeking a larger member role in setting policy, arguing party rules let small groups shape decisions as it confronts a dispute over a contested Zionism motion.
The Guardian reported Sunday that Ramsay, the MP for Waveney Valley, made the case in an interview with the BBC. He called for a wider membership ballot or survey, saying 0.4% of party members backed the motion. He also suggested some recent recruits from the left may be more aligned with Your Party, George Galloway’s party or the Socialist Workers party after other left-wing movements faltered.
The Green Party said its conference approved the motion, titled “Zionism is racism,” by 1,022 votes to 813. The party’s summary says the policy rejects equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism and supports an arms embargo on Israel, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, Palestinian liberation, a right of return and a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine.
Ramsay wants party rules changed so members can shape policy and the motion can be changed or rescinded sooner than the two-year review cycle he says current rules require. He welcomed the party’s membership growth, said he was not calling for Green Party leader Zack Polanski to stand down over his handling of the dispute, and said he had no plans to leave. Polanski has said he wants to change the motion’s single-state provision at the earliest opportunity but would not seek to overturn the policy; he said party rules prevent an amendment until at least 2028.
Ramsay had previously urged local party groups opposed to the motion to make their views known, as covered in EconoTimes’ earlier report on his appeal.
A Greens Organise spokesperson said Ramsay had made his case to the party a year earlier and lost the leadership election to Polanski, who won about 84% of the vote. The spokesperson also said more than 150,000 members had joined under Polanski’s leadership.
