Labour has threatened to terminate local power-sharing arrangements unless Green councillors explicitly reject a controversial conference motion, escalating a bitter political confrontation over antisemitism, Israel and the limits of cooperation on the left.
Labour has given the Green Party seven days to distance itself from a motion declaring “Zionism is racism”, threatening to pull the plug on local governing arrangements if Zack Polanski’s party fails to comply.
The ultimatum marks a sharp escalation in tensions between the two parties, turning a divisive conference resolution into a test of whether Labour can continue sharing power with the Greens while accusing them of crossing a fundamental line on antisemitism.
The confrontation erupted after the Greens passed the motion at their autumn conference earlier this month. During Prime Minister’s Questions, Andy Burnham accused the party of antisemitism over the decision, intensifying pressure on Labour to demonstrate that its objections would have consequences.
Labour has now instructed local parties involved in arrangements with the Greens to deliver a “clear and unambiguous statement” rejecting the policy. The party also demands that Green counterparts call on their national leadership to reconsider it.
Failure to meet the conditions within seven days could bring existing power-sharing arrangements to an end.
Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s chair, sought to frame the ultimatum as a question of public standards rather than political manoeuvring.
“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,” she said.
“This isn’t an issue of party politics; it’s about doing what is right and upholding the values anyone holding public office should share.”
The consequences could reach well beyond Westminster rhetoric. Sheffield, Lewes and Warwick are among the councils where the Greens participate in governing coalitions. In more than 10 other areas, Labour shares local authority arrangements involving the party.
The dispute therefore presents Labour with a difficult choice: enforce its demands and risk destabilising local administrations, or allow existing arrangements to continue and face accusations that its condemnation of the Greens is merely rhetorical.
The Prime Minister has already ruled out power-sharing arrangements with the Greens at national level. The latest intervention extends that harder line into local government, where cooperation between parties can be essential to securing working majorities.
For Polanski, the seven-day deadline creates an immediate test of political authority. Labour is demanding that Green representatives publicly reject the motion and challenge their own national leadership. That puts local councillors in the position of having to choose between meeting Labour’s conditions and defending their party’s internal political process.
The argument also touches a deeply contested distinction in British politics: criticism of Zionism and Israeli policy, on one hand, and antisemitism, on the other. Labour has characterised the Green motion as unacceptable, but the political consequences now depend on whether local Green parties will explicitly repudiate it and press their leadership to reconsider.
The row threatens to deepen divisions across the left at a time when both parties have incentives to compete for voters dissatisfied with the political establishment. Labour risks surrendering influence in councils if it withdraws from coalitions; the Greens risk losing governing opportunities if they refuse to comply.
The deadline leaves little room for a quiet compromise. Labour has set out its conditions and attached a clear consequence: reject the motion and challenge the national leadership, or face the collapse of local arrangements.
What began as a conference controversy has become a test of political discipline, coalition pragmatism and the standards parties demand of those who exercise public power.
Within seven days, the Greens’ local representatives may have to decide whether their relationship with Labour is worth the price of an unequivocal break with a policy their national party has adopted. For Labour, the test is whether its threat is a firm principle — or a gamble that could unsettle councils across England.
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