Green MP refuses to rule out quitting over anti-Zionism motion

Adrian Ramsay, who is among four of the party’s five MPs who warned against the move taken on Sunday at the party’s conference, called it a “very upsetting time”

Green MP Adrian Ramsay said he has not ruled out quitting after party members took the controversial step of labelling Zionism as racism.

The former co-leader of the Greens, who is among four of the party’s five MPs who warned against the move taken on Sunday at the party’s conference in Brighton, called it a “very upsetting time”.

The Waveney Valley MP was asked repeatedly on Wednesday if he might follow the lead of the party’s deputy leader in Wales and resign.

“There’s been other resignations as well … including people I’ve known for decades and worked with and have a huge amount of respect for, so clearly it’s a very upsetting time.

“What I’m doing at this stage, and we’re only a few days after the motion, is to talk carefully with colleagues to reflect both with Jewish Greens but also with Green MPs and other people in leading roles in the party to look at how best can we get things back on track,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Matt Chorley.

Pressed further on whether he could resign from the party, he said: “I’m not ruling anything in or out at this stage, Matt. I’m focusing on how we try and address the situation that we find ourselves in.”

The motion – backed by members with 1,022 votes in favour to 813 against – declares the Greens to be an “anti-Zionist party” and sets into its policy that Zionism, the movement to develop and protect a Jewish state in Israel, will be “treated as any other form of racism”.

It also supports the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”.

Party leader Zack Polanski, who did not take part in the vote, was barred from entering Israel in response to the motion.

Mr Ramsay sidestepped a question of whether he had confidence in Mr Polanski as leader of the party going forward, saying he expected him to continue in post as members are pleased about the growth the party has seen since he took over.

But he said: “Clearly if I was in Zack’s position I would have made a different decision around showing leadership to the new members that have come into the party around the conference vote, but I’ve deliberately not focused my comments on this issue on Zack or … any other individual.”

Though the motion being adopted makes it party policy, the Greens do not operate a whipping system, giving its MPs more freedom to hold their own views.

Mr Ramsay also stressed that the policy’s approval does not mean it will form part of the future manifesto, and said he is “happy sitting and standing on the manifesto on which I was elected” in 2024.

However, he said the party needs to “address this situation as a matter of urgency” and get clarity on whether the motion contravenes the Equality Act.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has been asked to investigate whether the move breaches the act by a group of Labour MPs led by former home office minister Mike Tapp.

The vote has prompted a wide backlash, with chief rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis dubbing it “poisonous antisemitism” and a “threat to British Jews and to Britain”.

Kemi Badenoch called it “disgraceful antisemitism” and said the Greens were “seeking to erase Jewish identity”.