Green MP Siân Berry says opponents of Zionism motion were ‘persuaded’ not to fight it because of byelection – UK politics live

The MP says that passing the motion has done ‘genuine damage; to the party’s reputation

Report: Labour wins Holborn and St Pancras byelection

Analysis: defeat will disappoint Greens – but there may also be relief

Key events1h agoClosing summary2h agoLib Dem MP quits front bench 'in bid to topple Ed Davey'3h agoFormer Green co-leader Jonathan Bartley says party has acquired 'a certain toxicity' under Polanski's leadership4h agoGreen MP Siân Berry says opponents of Zionism motion were 'persuaded' not to fight it publicly because of byelection5h agoJenrick claims Badenoch has turned Tories into party just for rich, with her 'Belgravia bung' costing average worker £2655h agoLeader of Jewish Greens says Polanski should resign6h agoBurnham unveils £48m partnership in bid to 'defeat' dementia6h agoCaroline Lucas says Green party urgently needs to revise its policy-making rules because it's 'woefully exposed' to entryism7h agoPolanski says he wants Green party to revise its Zionism motion 'at earliest opportunity'8h agoPolanski declines to say Israel has right to exist, but insists he does not back replacing it with single Palestinian state8h agoPolanski says Green party investigating member proposing Zionism motion over friendship with convicted terrorist9h agoHolborn and St Pancras byelection loss will disappoint Greens, but there may also be relief – Peter Walker's analysis9h agoPolanski plays down claims his leadership under threat, and says he will stand again for parliament9h agoPolanski rejects claim by Caroline Lucas that he failed to show leadership as Greens debating Zionism motion10h agoPolanski says it's 'absurd' to say 'Zionism is racism' motion antisemitic10h agoPolanski says he agrees with 'substance' of Green 'Zionism is racism' motion, but not actual wording passed at conference10h agoPolanski says Greens have succeeded in making Labour shift to left – but predicts voters will soon feel 'duped'10h agoPolanski says claims byelection result shows his popularity sinking are 'overblown'10h agoPolanski says he's achieved Green party's second best ever byelection result10h agoPolanski says Green party's 'Zionism is racism' motion 'imperfect', but he would have voted for amended version10h agoPolanski claims Holborn and St Pancras result shows Greens 'more of a threat' to Labour than before11h agoGreen party's claim its vote share up 22% in Holborn and St Pancras misleading, polling expert says11h agoFull results in Holborn and St Pancras byelection12h agoPolanski sidesteps question about whether he thinks Zionism is racism13h agoResult is victory for diversity that cannot be 'casually undone', says Abdi-Wali13h agoGreen party says 22% rise in vote share 'incredible result' for Polanski in safe Labour seat14h agoPolanski 'absolutely' intends to remain Greens leader14h agoLabour wins byelection after Greens fall short14h agoAbdi-Wali says byelection win 'deeply personal to me'15h agoLabour declared byelection winner15h agoCaroline Lucas says Polanski should have voted in Green party Zionism debate15h agoGreens concede byelection defeat15h agoInside the vote counting room – in pictures15h agoWho are the candidates?15h agoCounting under way in Holborn and St Pancras byelection Sian Berry MP chairs a panel discussion at the Green party conference this month Photograph: Alishia Abodunde/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenSian Berry MP chairs a panel discussion at the Green party conference this month Photograph: Alishia Abodunde/Getty ImagesKey events1h agoClosing summary2h agoLib Dem MP quits front bench 'in bid to topple Ed Davey'3h agoFormer Green co-leader Jonathan Bartley says party has acquired 'a certain toxicity' under Polanski's leadership4h agoGreen MP Siân Berry says opponents of Zionism motion were 'persuaded' not to fight it publicly because of byelection5h agoJenrick claims Badenoch has turned Tories into party just for rich, with her 'Belgravia bung' costing average worker £2655h agoLeader of Jewish Greens says Polanski should resign6h agoBurnham unveils £48m partnership in bid to 'defeat' dementia6h agoCaroline Lucas says Green party urgently needs to revise its policy-making rules because it's 'woefully exposed' to entryism7h agoPolanski says he wants Green party to revise its Zionism motion 'at earliest opportunity'8h agoPolanski declines to say Israel has right to exist, but insists he does not back replacing it with single Palestinian state8h agoPolanski says Green party investigating member proposing Zionism motion over friendship with convicted terrorist9h agoHolborn and St Pancras byelection loss will disappoint Greens, but there may also be relief – Peter Walker's analysis9h agoPolanski plays down claims his leadership under threat, and says he will stand again for parliament9h agoPolanski rejects claim by Caroline Lucas that he failed to show leadership as Greens debating Zionism motion10h agoPolanski says it's 'absurd' to say 'Zionism is racism' motion antisemitic10h agoPolanski says he agrees with 'substance' of Green 'Zionism is racism' motion, but not actual wording passed at conference10h agoPolanski says Greens have succeeded in making Labour shift to left – but predicts voters will soon feel 'duped'10h agoPolanski says claims byelection result shows his popularity sinking are 'overblown'10h agoPolanski says he's achieved Green party's second best ever byelection result10h agoPolanski says Green party's 'Zionism is racism' motion 'imperfect', but he would have voted for amended version10h agoPolanski claims Holborn and St Pancras result shows Greens 'more of a threat' to Labour than before11h agoGreen party's claim its vote share up 22% in Holborn and St Pancras misleading, polling expert says11h agoFull results in Holborn and St Pancras byelection12h agoPolanski sidesteps question about whether he thinks Zionism is racism13h agoResult is victory for diversity that cannot be 'casually undone', says Abdi-Wali13h agoGreen party says 22% rise in vote share 'incredible result' for Polanski in safe Labour seat14h agoPolanski 'absolutely' intends to remain Greens leader14h agoLabour wins byelection after Greens fall short14h agoAbdi-Wali says byelection win 'deeply personal to me'15h agoLabour declared byelection winner15h agoCaroline Lucas says Polanski should have voted in Green party Zionism debate15h agoGreens concede byelection defeat15h agoInside the vote counting room – in pictures15h agoWho are the candidates?15h agoCounting under way in Holborn and St Pancras byelectionParty leaders sometimes visit the constituency after a byelection win. Andy Burnham is giving a speech this morning – but not in Holborn and St Pancras. He is in Manchester, where he is giving a speech at the Innovation Nation summit.

Burnham is speaking now, and he is following the former PM Gordon Brown. Brown said the UK could be a leading innovation nation, and Burnham started his speech with what he said were words that he used every week when he was a cabinet minister almost 20 years ago. “Gordon is right,” he said.

View image in fullscreenAndy Burnham speaking at the Innovation Nation Summit. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesJenny Jones, the Green party peer, said that the Greens should clarify what they meant by the “Zionism is racism” motion passed at their conference.

Describing the vote “a rather big blip” for the party in an interview on Times Radio, she said:

double quotation markI actually chaired the session and I was astonished. It was very emotional, but it was also relatively polite, which was surprising.

And I would like to see it reorganised. It is not clear exactly what we mean.

Zack has been working with Jewish members of the party and with Jewish organisations to make it clear that we are not antisemitic.

And nobody in the party will be disciplined for going to the synagogue or any sort of community centre.

We have to work through it and we’ve got to make it clear exactly what that motion means.

In his Today interview, Polanski also said that he would like the party to revise the motion. He said:

double quotation markAt the earliest possible opportunity, I do want, at a conference motion, to see us go back to a process where Israelis and Palestinians decide the future of their region.

Now, that’s up to members because we’re a grassroots party.

On the Today programme (see 9.12am) Zack Polanski was being interviewed by Nick Robinson. At times, it got rather tetchy.

When Robinson asked about Caroline Lucas saying that Polanski should have voted in the debate on the “Zionism is racism” motion (see 2.55am), Polanski said he was fighting a byelection. Robinson then told him not to “insult the intelligence of people listening” and said that of course he could have been at the debate. Polanski said he had in fact pushed to get the conference postponed.

Asked how he would have voted if he had been there, Polanski said he wanted to amend the motion on two grounds. But those amendments fell. “And so I would have voted against the motion,” he said.

Polanski backed taking out the reference in the motion saying there should be a one-state solution, and another amendment that would have ensured Jewish Green members were not penalised for belonging to synagogues that identify as Zionist.

Asked if he believed there should be “a safe home for Jews in a state called Israel”, Polanski replied:

double quotation markI believe everyone deserves a safe home, and I’ve not dodged the question.

When Robinson asked again if Israel had a right to exist, Polanski said:

double quotation markI believe Israelis and Palestinians should have equal rights in a democracy …

Right now, Israel is a one-state, apartheid state. Palestinians don’t have democracy and they don’t have the right to vote for their government.

Robinson asked why Polanski was not able to say he believed in Israel as a safe home for Jewish people, even if he loathed what its government was doing. Polanski replied:

double quotation markI don’t believe that any state has a right to oppress or to commit apartheid, and certainly not genocide, on another people.

Now, it may be that in the future that there is a solution in which case Israelis and Palestinians can have equal rights.

I believe my role as leader of the Green party, and more importantly the British government, is to uphold international law.

But this is a context where we’ve seen 75,000 Palestinians murdered in the last few years, 1,500 murdered since the so-called ceasefire, and there are more child amputees than in modern history.

I don’t believe that’s a state that anyone should be supporting.

Robinson asked about the distinction between the Israeli government and the Israeli state. Was Polanski saying things were so terrible the state of Israel should no longer exist? Robinson said the motion passed at the Green conference implied this because it proposed a single Palestinian state. Did Polanski want to scrap the state of Israel?

double quotation markNo. What I want is to see a safe space for Israelis and Palestinians. And by the way, this isn’t a new position. We could go back to Edward Montagu, a Jewish man who was in the cabinet, who said at the time that he felt Zionism was a racist endeavour against Jewish people …

Jewish people have always had different opinions about the state of Israel.

double quotation markI still don’t know what your position is, whether it has a right to exist or not. You could just give me a yes/no and we could move on.

Polanski said he wanted to equal rights for Israeli and Palestinians. Robinson said that was not an answer to the question. Polanski replied: “At the moment Palestinians don’t have equal rights, so I think I’m answering your question really clearly.”

View image in fullscreenZack Polanski being interviewed on Today Photograph: Today programme/Today progammeAnd Andy Burnham has posted this message on the result.

double quotation markYesterday, Holborn and St Pancras voted for hope.

Congratulations @Sagal_AW and the whole team on a fantastic campaign. Looking forward to working together!

Keir Starmer, the former PM, has posted this on social media about Sagal Abdi-Wali winning the byelection created by his resignation as MP for Holborn and St Pancras.

double quotation markBrilliant result. Congratulations to my friend @Sagal_AW, I know you are a brilliant champion for our communities and will be a fantastic MP.

In an interview on the Today programme, Zack Polanski was asked about reports that Lubna Speitan, one of the Green party members proposing the “Zionism is racism” motion, was listed in court documents as a “close friend” of a man later jailed for supporting al-Qaeda.

Polanski said that he was not aware of this at the time of the debate. But he said this was now being investigated by the party.

When it was put to him that, given the importance of this motion, he should have looked who was proposing it more carefully, Polanski said there were 121 motions proposed at the conference.

Asked about her friendship with Minh Quang Pham, who denied planning a suicide attack, Speitan told the Telegraph: “People are demonised for all sorts of things and wrongfully accused of all sorts of things.” She also claimed she was the victim of a “character assassination”.

Here is an extract from Prof Sir John Curtice’s assessment of the Holborn and St Pancras byelection in an article for the Times.

double quotation markWith 45 per cent of the vote, Labour was much further ahead of the Greens, on 33 per cent, than they had been in May. Yet, Labour’s tally was still four points down on the 49 per cent Sir Keir won in 2024 — a figure that, as in many constituencies with a substantial Muslim population, was well down on the 66 per cent the party won locally in 2019.

In short, the result confirmed that, while it is enjoying a substantial recovery from the nadir to which the party fell in the final months of Sir Keir’s tenure, Labour still has significant ground left to recover before it is in a position where it might win another Commons majority.

Curtice also points out that the results confirm that Restore Britain is a problem for Reform UK. (See 6.15am.) The Conservative party came third, but Reform UK would beaten the Tories if its candidate had also had just half the votes that went to Restore.

Here is a Guardian graphic showing how the share of the vote changed in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection since the 2024 election.

How vote share changed in Holborn and St Pancras byelectionAnd this is what Bridget Phillipson, the Labour party chair, told Times Radio about the byelection result.

double quotation markI think it demonstrates that Labour’s message of hope is really cutting through, that people don’t just want parties like Labour to talk about the progressive change this country needs but they want to see it delivered in action, and that’s what we’re focused on every day as a Labour government.

The things that really matter to people about the cost of living, about issues around homelessness as Sagal [Abdi-Wali] was talking about.

In Sagal we had a fantastic candidate who really resonated with the public, backed up by Labour’s clear message of hope and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Bridget Phillipson, the Labour party chair, told Sky News that the Holborn and St Pancras byelection result showed that Andy Burnham had “got off to an incredibly strong start” as PM.