Labour has terminated cooperation with the Green party in 11 local councils across England after Green council groups refused to disown a conference motion declaring "Zionism is racism" and calling for Israel's replacement by a single Palestinian state. The move follows an ultimatum issued by Labour chair Bridget Phillipson roughly a fortnight ago, demanding that any Labour group working with Greens review and end their agreements unless the motion was explicitly rejected. The affected councils — Arun, Derbyshire Dales, Havant, Lewes, Sheffield, Stafford, Warwick, Wealden, West Devon, and West Suffolk — join Runnymede, where cooperation had already ceased. Six Green council groups did condemn the motion, preserving deals in Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire, and West Sussex. The West of England mayoralty, where a Green serves as deputy mayor under a Labour mayor, also survives. The underlying motion won just over 1,000 votes at the Green party conference, approximately 0.4% of total membership, under the party's direct democracy rules. It equates Zionism — the movement for a Jewish state — with racism, rejects a two-state solution, and calls for a single Palestinian state "with equal rights for all." Four of the Greens' five MPs have criticised it, as has former leader Caroline Lucas. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to the Greens seeking more information about the motion's practical implications. The Greens are split down the middle. Former co-leader Adrian Ramsay called on local parties to renounce the policy and warned that the party must fix its internal democracy to avoid a hard-left takeover, suggesting some new members "might be more at home" in Your Party or the Socialist Workers Party. But Zack Polanski, who leads the Greens in England and Wales, has held the line, with the party's official response being that the Greens would "not take lectures" from a Labour government that supplies arms to Israel. Labour's framing is unmistakable: this is about antisemitism, full stop. Phillipson explicitly invoked Labour's own painful process of rooting out antisemitism under Corbyn's leadership. Andy Burnham called the motion "antisemitic." The messaging positions Labour as the party that learned its lesson and demands the same standard of others. Whether this represents principled consistency or opportunistic coalition management depends on your reading of the timing and mechanics. The Greens and the LGA Green group called the move "hugely disappointing," arguing that national party ultimatums are overriding the judgment of local leaders and disrupting partnerships that were delivering for residents. This is the structural cost: 11 councils where progressive coalitions had been governing together now face fractured administration, potential loss of stable majorities, and policy disruption — all over a motion most Green councillors likely didn't vote on and many openly oppose. The deeper dynamic is a disciplinary play running in two directions. Labour is enforcing an external red line on a coalition partner, which is unusual and sets a precedent for national parties vetoing local alliances over conference motions. Simultaneously, Ramsay's warnings about entryism suggest the Greens face an internal sovereignty crisis: a direct democracy model that lets a tiny fraction of members bind the entire party to positions its elected officials reject. Both parties are being reshaped by this fight — one by choice, one by structure.
