Lewes District Green councillors write to Labour colleagues about future of working together following controversy over national Green Party’s Zionism policy

The Greens said their councillors used the letter to express disappointment that the national Labour Party has ordered its councillors to issue ‘ultimatums’ over internal Green Party policy.

Their letter said: “We do not believe that a successful local administration should be judged by every policy passed at either party’s national conference. It has never been the basis of our partnership, and we do not believe it should become so now.”

The letter follows the controversy over the national Green Party saying it had adopted a motion to formally establish itself ‘as an anti-Zionist party’ at its 2026 conference.

The Greens announced at greenparty.org.uk: “The motion sets out the Party’s opposition to Zionism, defined as an ethnonationalist political project, and states that anti-Zionism should not be equated with antisemitism.”

A Green Party spokesperson called the issue ‘a serious and deeply felt debate’ within its membership, saying the Green Party is ‘an anti-racist party’ that has consistently opposed the occupation of both Palestinian and Syrian land, while calling for an end to arms sales to the Israeli government. The spokesperson said: “Those positions remain central to our approach. So too does our deeply held commitment to equality, justice and human rights for all and opposition to racism in all its forms.”

In response, Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he condemned the motion ‘unequivocally’. He called it ‘wrong’ and ‘antisemitic’, saying his party would have ‘nothing to do with it’. The national Labour party then said it would end power-sharing agreements with Greens on local councils unless Green councillors reject the policy that calls Zionism a form of racism.

The Lewes Greens said this means the national Labour Party would withdraw support for the Green-led administration on LDC. They are now offering to meet with the Lewes Labour group to discuss future cooperation. People can read their letter in full at lewes.greenparty.org.uk/2026/10/18/open-letter.

The Greens said they are are the biggest party on the council, which is jointly run with the support of Labour colleagues.

The letter said: “For the past three and a half years, Green and Labour councillors have worked side by side, often in challenging circumstances, to do what we were elected to do: serve the people of Lewes District.”

It said: “We were deeply saddened to learn that your national party has instructed Labour councillors working in partnership with Greens to issue an ultimatum over a motion recently passed at Green Party Conference.

“We recognise that this is a deeply sensitive issue and that many people, particularly within our Jewish communities, are feeling worried and hurt. We take those concerns seriously. We want to be absolutely clear that, as Green councillors, we stand firmly against antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of racism, discrimination, and hatred. Everyone in our district deserves to feel safe, respected, and included.”

The letter said there have been ‘profound disagreements’ in the Green and Labour partnership, but the Greens said: “We have never made our willingness to work with you conditional on agreeing with every policy or decision of the national Labour Party.”

The letter added: “The motion passed at Green Party Conference has prompted democratic discussion and debate within our own party. As a councillor group we do not support the motion.”

Council and Green group leader, Zoe Nicholson, said: “Andy Burnham called for a different kind of politics, ‘one based on solving problems rather than scoring points’.

“It would be a sad irony if, at the very moment the Prime Minister is calling for a new politics of collaboration and local empowerment, a successful local partnership were brought to an end by you choosing to follow an instruction from your national governing body.

“Our residents expect us to progress with the spirit of cooperation we have built over the past three and a half years, and we hope that is stronger than an instruction from Westminster.”

Green group deputy leader Ezra Cohen, said: “To my knowledge, I’m the only Jewish Councillor at Lewes District Council. And I find it galling, and frankly offensive, for the national Labour Party to demand that I prove, yet again, that I am not antisemitic, in order to allow their councillors to continue working with me.”