Labour has told its councillors to break up any power-sharing agreements they have with the Green Party over its new ‘Zionism is racism’ policy.
Andy Burnham condemned the motion, passed by members at the party conference earlier this month, as ‘wrong’ and ‘antisemitic’ at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday.
He ruled out any coalition agreements with the Greens while the policy remains, but it was unclear if that extended to the local government level.
In a statement released this morning, Labour confirmed this is the case.
Party chair Bridget Phillipson said: ‘The Prime Minister has been completely clear: this policy is wrong and antisemitic, and has no place in British politics.
‘Where local Labour Parties currently have an arrangement with the Greens in local government, we expect their Green counterparts to make clear that they reject this position and to call on their national leadership to reconsider the policy.
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‘We have asked local Green groups to respond as a matter of urgency. Where they are unable to provide that assurance, Labour will bring any such local arrangement to an end.’
Labour currently leads a coalition alongside the Green Party on Sheffield City Council, and works alongside the Greens and the Lib Dems to run Havant Borough Council in Hampshire.
The new Green Party policy says support for the existence of an Israeli state is equivalent to racism, rejecting a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Instead, it calls for a single state of Palestine with ‘equal rights for all’.
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