National Greens accuse Labour of trying to "disrupt successful local partnerships" after Sheffield Zionism row
“The Labour Party leadership’s attempts to force local councillors to tear up agreements they've worked hard to maintain have resulted in their own councillors defying this overreach”
The Green Party are accusing Labour of “overreach” after a national row over Zionism nearly tore apart Sheffield City Council’s leadership agreement.
After weeks of debate, Sheffield’s Labour and Green councillors have finally come to an agreement which will seemingly allow the two parties their existing leadership arrangement.
The dispute originally began after the Green Party voted in the controversial ‘Zionsim is Racism’ motion at their national conference in Brighton in early October.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham criticised the party’s decision, with Labour Party chairwoman, Bridget Phillipson, going on to say that local collaborations between the two parties will end unless they reject the motion.
However, ahead of a full council meeting on Wednesday, November 4, the Sheffield contingents managed to make a last minute agreement to salvage their alliance.
Now, the national Green Party has celebrated this rebuilding of bridges, but accused the PM of “authoritarian” tactics.
A spokesperson for the Green Party said: “In Sheffield, the Green Group have stood firmly by their principles, and are continuing to put residents above political point-scoring. The local Labour Party have also realised that smashing apart their administration at the whims of Labour HQ isn’t in residents’ interests.
“Andy Burnham's authoritarian diktat has angered councillors and residents across the country, including those in his own party. The Labour Party leadership’s attempts to force local councillors to tear up agreements they've worked hard to maintain have resulted in their own councillors defying this overreach.
“The Labour Party leadership's support for Israel seems to have no limit - arming a genocide, locking up pensioners for holding up pieces of paper, and now attempting to disrupt successful local partnerships from delivering for residents. The Green Party has been clear that local people know what is best for their communities - and they're proving us right.”
At the delayed meeting on Wednesday, council leader Fran Belbin addressed the ongoing debates and said that the two parties had “moved to a better place.”
"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,” she added.
"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."