Labour ends 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." Green leader Zack Polanski said the move would "backfire" on Labour and accused the party of wanting to "interrupt your local services and impose genocide support from its local councils". In October, Green Party members backed a motion, entitled "Zionism is racism", which described Zionism as an ideology supporting an "ethnonationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine". The motion also backed a "single democratic Palestinian State", including in modern-day Israel. Israel has denied committing genocide in Gaza. 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 what he called an "antisemitic" policy. Labour then issued an ultimatum from head office to Labour-Green councils, demanding that local Greens disown the motion passed at the party's national conference and call on their national leadership to reconsider the policy. Labour said there were local agreements in place in 18 authorities, and that 11 had not met the criteria it demanded. Its conditions were met in Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire and West Sussex. The party said Coventry City Council has no 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. Lewes District Council announced last week it was "mutually" ending its alliance with Labour, while Labour says local co-operation at Runnymede Borough Council had already ceased. 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 local level could affect hundreds of thousands of residents, with budgets and policy decisions taking longer to pass. Green and Labour councillors in the affected areas will now have to seek alternative coalition partners or govern as minority administrations. One of the biggest councils 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, Sheffield Greens leader Angela Argenzio did not mention the motion in a letter but insisted local Green councillors "are not antisemitic", telling local Labour representatives they were being "directed by your national party leader" rather than by 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, adding: "Our trust in Sheffield Greens is completely broken," and accusing them of a "refusal to stand up for Jewish citizens". Green Party co-deputy leader Rachel Millward, who is also 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 it refused to "condemn a democratically decided policy because of political intimidation" and urged 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 said. In a joint statement, the Green Party and the Local Government Association Green Group said it was "hugely disappointed" that Labour had forced local leaders into "jeopardising successful progressive partnerships that are delivering benefits for residents". The Liberal Democrats are also in partnership with the Greens in some councils. Last week, party leader Sir Ed Davey ruled out entering a national partnership with "any party that is committed to a dangerous and antisemitic policy like the Green Party's", and said he had asked his local leaders in coalition with the Greens to urge Green councillors to reject the motion and commit to campaigning for its reversal.