UK Politics
Labour Dumps the Greens in 11 Councils Over ‘Zionism Is Racism’, but Keeps Deals in Six More
Labour has quit power-sharing deals with the Greens in 11 councils over the Zionism is racism motion, but is keeping deals in six councils and a mayoralty.
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News | By Matt, Editor
Labour has walked out of power-sharing deals with the Green Party in 11 English councils, after local Greens refused to disown their party’s new policy that “Zionism is racism”.
The decision was taken by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee on Monday (The Jewish Chronicle). It hits councils from Sheffield to West Devon, where neither party can run things on its own. But Labour is staying in bed with the Greens in six other councils, and in the West of England mayoralty, where the deputy mayor is a Green.
Key facts
- Labour is ending deals in Arun, Derbyshire Dales, Havant, Lewes, Runnymede, Sheffield, Stafford, Warwick, Wealden, West Devon and West Suffolk.
- Deals stay in Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire and West Sussex, where Labour says Green groups condemned the motion (The Guardian).
- Labour had local arrangements in 18 authorities. Eleven failed its test.
- The Green motion, passed at the party’s conference in October, also backs a “single democratic Palestinian State” covering modern-day Israel (BBC News).
- It won just over 1,000 votes, about 0.4% of Green members, according to The Guardian.
What Labour said
Party chair Bridget 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.”
She went on: “Any local power-sharing arrangement cannot come at the expense of upholding the moral obligation we have to stand up for everyone in our communities and the values we share.” She said it was “disappointing” that some local Green parties had not met Labour’s conditions, and called on the Greens to rescind the policy.
This was not a sudden move. In October Labour gave local Green groups a deadline to disown the motion, as we reported when it handed the Greens an ultimatum. Prime Minister Andy Burnham had already told MPs Labour would not partner with the Greens nationally over what he called an “antisemitic” policy.
Polanski hits back
Green leader Zack Polanski was not in a mood to back down. He accused Labour of putting “Israel far above serving our local communities” and said the move “will backfire on Labour”.
Half an hour later he went further, claiming Labour wanted to “interrupt your local services & impose genocide support from it’s local councils”. Israel denies committing genocide in Gaza.
Mr Polanski has called the motion “imperfect”, but has refused to scrap it. He says he will try to amend it at the next chance under party rules, in 2027 (The Jewish Chronicle).
Green co-deputy leader Rachel Millward, who leads Wealden Council, said it was “ironic that a Labour prime minister who made a promise to solve problems, not score points, has now shown he is willing to disrupt well-run councils for fear of Green success”.
In Havant, Green group leader Netty Shepherd told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I am a local government councillor, I worry about people’s bins, I worry about generating town centres – foreign policy is nothing to do with my remit.”
Sheffield: 550,000 people, no majority
The biggest casualty is Sheffield. After the May 2026 elections, 25 Labour councillors and 20 Greens formed a joint administration to run a city of 550,000 people (BBC News).
Labour council leader Fran Belbin said her group would propose on Wednesday that it carries on alone as a minority administration. “Our trust in Sheffield Greens is completely broken,” she said, accusing them of a “refusal to stand up for Jewish citizens”.
Sheffield Greens leader Angela Argenzio did not mention the motion in her reply to Labour, but insisted local Green councillors “are not antisemitic”. She said Labour was being “directed by your national party leader” rather than by local concerns.
A party at war with itself
The motion has split the Greens from top to bottom. It has been criticised by four of the party’s five MPs and by former leader Caroline Lucas (The Guardian). Former co-leader Adrian Ramsay said on Sunday that the party must fix its internal democracy to avoid a hard-left takeover, and that some new members “might be more at home” in Your Party or the Socialist Workers Party.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to the Greens asking for more information about the motion. The Board of Deputies of British Jews voted by 118 to one that the Greens had become a racist party by adopting it (LBC). At the weekend, Newquay mayor and Cornwall Greens leader Drew Creek said he was defecting to Labour.
The Liberal Democrats, who also share power with Greens in some councils, have ruled out a national pact. Sir Ed Davey has asked his local leaders in those councils to urge Green councillors to reject it.
Our view
This section is opinion.
Labour has suddenly discovered its principles, but only in 11 places. In six councils and one mayoralty it is still happy to share power with the same party, because a local Green group has signed a statement. The policy those councillors campaigned under has not changed. Mr Polanski is still in charge and still defending it.
And let’s be honest about why Labour wanted these deals in the first place. The Greens are the party of wealth taxes and net zero at any price. Labour was content to run Sheffield with them for six months. Back in October a Green MP warned her own party it risked capture by extremists. Nobody in Labour head office seemed bothered then.
Now residents are left with minority councils trying to pass budgets over a row about the Middle East. Voters in Sheffield, Warwick and Wealden never asked for that. They asked for their bins to be emptied and their council tax to be spent properly. The Left is busy fighting itself, and councils are paying the price. At the next local elections, voters can pick a party that is actually interested in running their town.
Should Labour end every deal with the Greens, including the six it is keeping? Vote in our poll below.
Sources
- BBC News, 2 November 2026
- The Guardian, 2 November 2026
- The Jewish Chronicle, 2 November 2026
- LBC, 2 November 2026
- GB News, 2 November 2026
- Posts on X by Zack Polanski and the Green Party, 2 November 2026
- Images: Zack Polanski, Bristol Green Party, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Bridget Phillipson, Richard Townshend, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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