Burnham calls on Polanski to reverse Green Party’s ‘completely wrong’ motion on Zionism

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Andy Burnham has called on the Green Party to reverse its “completely wrong” conference vote declaring Zionism is racism.

The prime minister said the controversial motion, which was voted for by members of the Green Party, “shouldn’t be supported in any way, shape or form”, and said the decision showed “terrible judgement on behalf of the Green Party”.

He called on Zack Polanski “to say that it will be reversed and it won’t be Green Party policy.”

“In my view, all political parties in the UK should do everything they can to support the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine,” Mr Burnham said.

The prime minister has faced calls from within his party to rule out any potential coalition deal between Labour and the Greens.

But when asked if he would rule out entering into coalition with the Greens as long as they back such a policy, Mr Burnham said he would not be drawn on “any business about what might or might not happen in the future”.

The criticism comes as Mr Polanski awaits the results of the crucial Holborn and St Pancras by-election, where he has been campaigning to become an MP. Counting is currently underway in the constituency, in what is believed to be a two-horse race between the Green Party leader and Labour’s candidate, Sagal Abdi-Wali.

Mr Polanski, speaking at the party’s conference in Brighton, appeared to temper hopes of a Green win on Friday, saying his position as leader “doesn’t depend on it [winning the by-election] whatsoever.”

But the fallout of the Zionism motion, passed at the Green Party conference on Sunday, has threatened to split the party.

It 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”.

Mr Polanski abstained from the vote, having already left the conference to return to campaigning in Sir Keir Starmer’s old constituency.

In the wake of the vote, the Wales Green Party’s deputy leader announced his resignation on Tuesday, and said that he had left the party after seven years.

In a statement released late on Monday, Mr Polanski said the Green Party will “not accept any exclusion” of people based on religion.

“Antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state are, and must always be, completely distinct – blurring the line between the two is not only wrong but antisemitic, and makes Jewish people less safe,” he said.

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