Breakdown of Local Alliances Across 11 Authorities
The Labour Party has terminated its power-sharing arrangements with the Green Party across 11 local councils in England after setting an ultimatum for local Green representatives to publicly disown a newly adopted national Green policy that defines Zionism as a form of racism. Official statements issued by Labour confirm that cooperation between the two parties has been brought to a halt in Arun, Derbyshire Dales, Havant, Lewes, Sheffield, Stafford, Warwick, Wealden, West Devon, and West Suffolk. In Runnymede Borough Council, Labour stated that joint working had already ceased prior to the announcement. The decision follows instructions issued just over a fortnight ago by national Labour leadership requiring local council groups to review and dissolve joint governing arrangements unless their Green partners explicitly rejected the motion.
The national disruption stems from an assessment conducted by Labour headquarters regarding 18 local authorities where shared power arrangements had previously been established. According to figures provided by Labour, six Green council groups fulfilled the criteria demanded by national party leaders by condemning the policy motion passed at the Green Party national conference in October. As a result, governing agreements will remain active in Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire, and West Sussex. Labour also confirmed that cooperation will continue within the West of England mayoralty, where the elected mayor is a Labour politician and the deputy mayor is a Green Party member. In Coventry City Council, Labour clarified that no formal arrangement is currently in place and stated that no joint working deal will be established in the future.
The collapse of joint working agreements across the 11 affected council areas leaves local administrations facing immediate structural adjustments. In areas where Labour and Green councillors previously formed joint majorities, political groups are now forced to seek alternative coalition partners or attempt to pass budgets and legislation as minority administrations. The breakdown is expected to affect hundreds of thousands of local residents, as council decisions, budgetary approvals, and policy initiatives face potential administrative delays while revised governance structures are established.
Disputed Conference Resolution and Internal Green Division
The policy at the centre of the inter-party rupture was passed by Green Party members during their annual national conference in October. Titled "Zionism is racism," the motion formally adopted by the party defines Zionism as an ideology supporting an ethnonationalist Jewish state in historic Palestine and equates the movement for a Jewish state directly with racism. In addition to equating Zionism with racism, the resolution explicitly rejects a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling instead for the dismantling of Israel and its replacement by a single democratic Palestinian state encompassing modern-day Israel, with equal rights for all residents.
The passage of the resolution was achieved under the Green Party's direct democracy rules, which dictate that party policy is determined by member voting at conference. Official voting tallies indicate that the motion received just over 1,000 votes, a figure representing approximately 0.4 percent of the total national Green Party membership. Despite the relatively small proportion of members voting in favour of the text, the resolution automatically became official Green Party policy upon its passage, generating immediate political friction both within the organisation and across external political institutions.
The adoption of the policy has exposed major internal divisions among senior Green Party figures. Four of the party's five current Members of Parliament, alongside former party leader and former MP Caroline Lucas, have publicly criticized the motion. Adrian Ramsay, the Green MP and former co-leader of the party, publicly urged local Green party branches to renounce the policy text. In statements made on Sunday, Ramsay argued that the Greens must reform their internal democratic procedures to prevent a potential takeover by hard-left factions, asserting that certain recent entrants to the party might be more at home in political organizations such as Your Party or the Socialist Workers Party.
Ramsay's public calls for local disavowal placed him in direct opposition to Zack Polanski, who serves as the leader of the Green Party in England and Wales. Polanski defended the central premise of the resolution while acknowledging that the text of the motion was imperfect. Polanski argued that the state of Israel's actions toward the Palestinian population are clearly underpinned by racist ideology. In response to Labour's demands for local retractions, the national Green Party issued an official response stating that it would not take lectures from a Labour administration that continues to supply arms to Israel.
The practical and regulatory implications of the policy have drawn scrutiny from independent statutory bodies. The Equality and Human Rights Commission confirmed it has formally written to the Green Party to request additional detailed information regarding the resolution. The statutory oversight body stated that its inquiry is intended to assess the practical implications and potential legal impacts of the newly adopted party policy.
Leadership Statements and National Political Responses
Senior Labour leadership has framed the party's ultimatum as a non-negotiable moral boundary. Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson stated that Labour had been explicit from the onset that the policy adopted by the Greens crosses a line, emphasizing that Labour cannot maintain working partnerships with any political party supporting the resolution at any level of government. In reported commentary published by The Guardian, Phillipson stated that local power-sharing arrangements cannot be maintained at the expense of upholding the moral obligation to stand up for all community members and shared values.
Phillipson also noted Labour's satisfaction that several local Green groups chose to disavow the conference motion and urged their national executive to follow suit, while expressing disappointment that other local branches failed to meet Labour's criteria. She reiterated Labour's continued opposition to the resolution, calling on the Green Party leadership to do the right thing and rescind the policy, while noting that Labour had fought hard to root out antisemitism within its own ranks to ensure it had no place in British politics. Prime Minister Andy Burnham had previously addressed Members of Parliament in October regarding the issue, explicitly describing the Green conference motion as antisemitic and ruling out any national or local political partnerships with the Green Party while the policy remained active.
The stance taken by Labour national headquarters drew sharp counter-accusations from national Green Party leadership. Polanski asserted that Labour's withdrawal from local governance coalitions would backfire politically on the ruling party. He accused Labour's national leadership of seeking to interrupt local municipal services and attempting to impose support for genocide through its local council delegations. Official context noted alongside these statements indicates that Israel has denied allegations of committing genocide in Gaza.
Other national political parties have similarly positioned themselves in response to the Green Party's resolution. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey ruled out entering into any future national partnership with any political party committed to what he designated as a dangerous and antisemitic policy. Davey confirmed that he had instructed Liberal Democrat local group leaders currently operating in coalition with Green councillors to formally request that their Green counterparts reject the motion and publicly commit to campaigning for its ultimate reversal at the national level.
Impasses and Minority Governance in Local Authorities
The impact of the national directive is demonstrated in Sheffield, one of the largest metropolitan areas affected by the ruling. Following the local elections in May 2026, 25 Labour councillors formed a joint governing coalition with 20 Green councillors to administer the council, serving a total population of 550,000 residents. Following the issuance of the national Labour ultimatum, Angela Argenzio, the leader of the Sheffield Greens, sent a formal letter to local Labour representatives. Argenzio insisted that local Green councillors are not antisemitic and argued that local Labour members were acting under direct orders from their national party leader rather than responding to genuine local municipal concerns, choosing not to mention the specific text of the conference motion in her response.
In response to the stance taken by the Sheffield Greens, Councillor Fran Belbin, the Labour leader of Sheffield City Council, announced in a public statement on Monday that her party would officially table a proposal on Wednesday to move forward as a minority Labour administration. Belbin stated that Labour felt it had reached the end of the road with the joint administration, adding that trust in the Sheffield Greens was completely broken and accusing the local Green group of a refusal to stand up for Jewish citizens.
A distinct dynamic unfolded in Lewes District Council, where the Green Party announced last week that it was mutually ending its political alliance with Labour, prior to the formal national declaration issued by Labour headquarters on Monday. In Warwick, the local Green Party group issued a public statement refusing to comply with Labour's demands, declaring that they refused to condemn a democratically decided policy because of political intimidation. The Warwick Greens publicly urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to reflect his own words in his actions and allow local Labour groups to decide governing arrangements for themselves.
Opposition to national intervention was also expressed by Green Party leadership in Wealden. Rachel Millward, who serves as Green Party co-deputy leader and leader of Wealden Council, criticized the Labour Prime Minister's direct intervention in local affairs. Millward stated that it was ironic that a Labour prime minister who had pledged to solve problems rather than score political points had demonstrated a willingness to disrupt well-run councils out of fear of Green political success. Millward further stated that it is utterly irresponsible to conflate criticism of the actions of the state of Israel with antisemitism, adding that many Jewish people strongly reject the illegal actions of the current Israeli government.
Municipal representatives in smaller district authorities also voiced frustration over the national political dispute overriding local government responsibilities. Netty Shepherd, the leader of the Green group on Havant Borough Council, spoke to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, as reported by BBC News. Shepherd characterized Labour's political ultimatum as performative politics and warned that ending their working coalition would prove to be a complete disaster for local residents. Shepherd emphasized that her professional remit as a local government councillor centres on managing municipal waste collection bins and regenerating town centres, asserting that international foreign policy falls entirely outside her council responsibilities.
Inter-Party Reactions and Future Implications for Local Services
In a combined response to the widespread collapse of local coalitions, the Green Party and the Local Government Association Green Group issued a joint statement expressing severe disappointment over national political directives disrupting municipal administrations. The joint statement declared that local leaders were hugely disappointed in moves designed by national political parties to force local council leaders into jeopardizing successful progressive partnerships that were actively delivering concrete benefits for local residents.
The joint statement highlighted the historic collaboration between diverse political factions at the local level, noting that Green, Labour, independent, and Liberal Democrat councillors across the country have systematically worked together to deliver stable local governance, protect essential municipal services, and achieve positive local changes. The leadership statement asserted that council leaders across all participating parties are rightly proud of the outcomes these progressive partnerships have delivered. It criticized national party figures who issued political ultimatums for ignoring the considered judgments of their own local leaders, failing to respect the democratic electoral choices made by local voters, and intentionally destabilizing functional power-sharing agreements.
With Labour officially ending joint power-sharing across the 11 designated local authorities, municipal governance across these areas enters a period of structural realignment. Minority Labour or Green administrations, as well as newly negotiated alternative council coalitions, must now prepare to navigate upcoming statutory budget approvals and routine policy votes without guaranteed joint majorities. As local councils attempt to maintain basic municipal services amidst political realignment, the Green Party faces ongoing internal debate and external regulatory scrutiny regarding whether its national membership will consider motions to revise or rescind the controversial policy at future party assemblies.
This report was prepared with AI assistance and checked against the sources it relied on. Read our editorial standards and methodology.
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