Labour rules out working with Greens after 'Zionism is racism' vote.

There are moments when a political party reveals not what it intends to say, but what it cannot help but become. For the Green Party of England and Wales, that moment arrived on Sunday in Brighton, when members voted to declare Zionism a form of racism—a motion that has since rippled outward, hardening boundaries and closing doors that had been left ajar.

The vote passed by 1,022 to 813 at the party's annual conference, adopting a binding policy that treats Zionism as racism and calls for a single Palestinian state in place of Israel . The motion was proposed by party members and opposed by four of the party's five MPs, exposing a divide between the activist base and the elected representatives who must carry the party's banner into future elections .

Labour's response was swift and unambiguous. Bridget Phillipson, the party chair, called the move "shameful" and said it highlighted how vital it had been for Labour to confront antisemitism under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership . One Labour minister said they could not foresee how the two parties could work together, while a government official argued Labour should formally rule out any future coalition or arrangement with the Greens .

The practical implications are significant. The Greens have enjoyed a surge in popularity under Zack Polanski, attracting voters disillusioned with Labour's stance on Gaza . But the vote has also drawn condemnation from Israel's foreign ministry, which barred Polanski from entering the country, and from British Jewish leaders who described the motion as "overtly antisemitic" . Within the Greens themselves, the vote revealed tensions: Polanski skipped the vote entirely, campaigning instead in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, while four of his five MPs publicly rejected the motion .

Pressure has also extended to the Liberal Democrats, who govern in coalition with the Greens in Southwark. Senior Lib Dem peer Sarah Ludford called on her party to "entirely distance yourselves" from the motion, while another peer urged colleagues to "ditch them" .

The Green Party has framed the motion as an anti-racist position, insisting that "anti-Zionism should not be equated with antisemitism" . But for Labour, the vote has simplified a political argument it was already preparing to make: that the Greens, whatever their environmental heritage, have become a party whose foreign policy convictions carry costs that mainstream voters may not wish to bear.

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Sources: The Guardian, BBC, AFP, Anadolu Ajansı, London Evening Standard