Labour and Greens U-turn: Sheffield Council joint administration will continue
"We have made significant progress this morning towards getting to a position that we think we can agree on”
Labour and Greens will continue in a joint administration after Sheffield council's leader praised "genuinely constructive" discussions over the Greens' "Zionism is Racism" motion.
The motion, which passed at the Green Party conference in Brighton almost a month ago, has caused chaos in Sheffield after the national Labour party demanded Green councillors to reject it, or local collaborations will end.
Council leader Fran Belbin previously called the motion "shameful and antisemitic," but the Sheffield Green councillor group backed the motion aligned with their values of "universal and equal human and civil rights, freedom and justice."
A full Sheffield City Council meeting was delayed from 2pm to 3pm today (Wednesday) after private deliberations over the administrations future went on in the town hall.
When she spoke to the council chamber, leader Fran Belbin did not read from a written statement, understood to be due to the last minute nature of the U-turn.
She said: "The reason that we are late today, and let us be clear about it, is that we have been having discussions between ourselves, the Labour group, and the Green party, over the course of today to see if we can get ourselves to a better place."
She told the council chamber and public gallery that the "Zionism is Racism" motion "has brought about some very very passionate feelings and announcements from different members of the public and different political groups."
She said Labour councillors have been trying to work with the Greens to "move to a better place" over the last couple of weeks.
She said: "I am very pleased that we did see a new statement coming out from the Greens last night in terms of the things that we have been asking for around the fact that not all Zionists are racists, and that people have the right to self-determination.
"I am genuinely grateful to the Green group for the constructive way that they have approached conversations with us today about this.
"We have made significant progress this morning towards getting to a position that we think we can agree on, or where we can certainly work more constructively together going forwards."
Coun Belbin said the public can expect a statement to be issued in the coming days that shows Labour and Greens will be able to continue the joint administration.
She confirmed Labour will not be putting forward a motion for a minority administration, which is a U-turn on her position over the weekend.
She said: "I'd like to sincerely thank everybody who has been involved in those discussions. I think they have been genuinely constructive going forward and I am looking forward to us being in the best place."
The leader of the Green councillor group in Sheffield, councillor Angela Argenzio was not present at the meeting.