Labour to end power-sharing with Greens in 11 councils over Zionism row

The Labour Party has pulled out of power-sharing agreements with the Green Party in 11 local councils, after the national party adopted a policy defining Zionism as a form of racism.

Labour councillors will no longer be in coalition with the Greens in areas including Sheffield, Warwick and Lewes.

Labour 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."

The Green Party said it was "hugely disappointed" that Labour had forced local leaders into "jeopardising successful progressive partnerships that are delivering benefits for residents".

In a joint statement, the Green Party and the Local Government Association Green Group said "top-down directives to break up and disrupt locally-run services are not in the interests of the residents we represent.

"We trust local communities, local councillors and local leaders to know what is best for them. We ask that others do the same."

In October, Green Party members backed a motion, entitled "Zionism is racism", which said Zionism was an ideology that supported an "ethnonationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine". It also backed a "single democratic Palestinian State", including in modern-day Israel.

Having been backed by party members, the motion became Green Party policy, but it has left senior figures bitterly divided . Jewish groups and opposition political parties have condemned it.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told MPs in October that Labour would not partner with the Greens over the "antisemitic" policy.

Labour then issued an ultimatum from Labour's head office to Labour-Green councils, demanding that local Greens disown the motion passed by members at their national party conference.

Green groups were also asked to call on their party's national leadership to reconsider the policy.

Labour said there were local agreements in place in 18 authorities. Of those, Labour said 11 had not met the criteria it demanded.

Lewes District Council (The Green Party announced last week it was "mutually" ending its alliance with Labour)

Runnymede Borough Council (Labour says local co-operation had already ceased)

Labour said its conditions had been met in Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire and West Sussex. The party said that Coventry City Council does not have a formal arrangement in place and that no such deal will be made in the future.

It will continue co-operating with the Greens in the West of England mayoralty, where the deputy mayor is a Green member.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has said the motion was "imperfect" but has defended its central premise , arguing that Israel's actions towards the Palestinian people are "clearly underpinned by racist ideology".

The collapse of co-operation at the local level could impact hundreds of thousands of residents through budgets and policy decisions taking longer to get voted through.

Green and Labour councillors in the impacted areas will now have to seek alternative coalition partners or try to govern as a minority administration.

One of the biggest councils to be affected is Sheffield, where 25 Labour councillors formed a power-sharing agreement with 20 Green councillors after the May 2026 elections for the Yorkshire city's 550,000 residents.

Responding to Labour's ultimatum, leader of the Sheffield Greens Angela Argenzio did not mention the motion in a letter but insisted local Green councillors "are not antisemitic".

Argenzio told local Labour representatives they were being "directed by your national party leader" rather than local concerns.

In a statement on Monday, the council's Labour leader Cllr Fran Belbin said her party would propose on Wednesday that it proceeds as a Labour minority administration.

"We now feel we are at the end of the road with the joint administration," she said.

"Our trust in Sheffield Greens is completely broken," she added, accusing them of a "refusal to stand up for Jewish citizens".

Green Party co-leader Rachel Millward, also the leader of Wealden Council, said: "It is 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."

She added: "It is utterly irresponsible to conflate criticism of the actions of the state of Israel with antisemitism. Many Jewish people strongly reject the illegal actions of the current Israeli government."

In Warwick, the local Green party said: "We refuse to condemn a democratically decided policy because of political intimidation."

It urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to "reflect his own words in his actions and allow local Labour groups to decide for themselves".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Green group leader in Havant Netty Shepherd accused Labour of "performative politics" and said the end of their coalition would be a "complete disaster for residents".

"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," she added.

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