Andy Burnham Rules Out Post-Election Deal With Greens Over Of ‘Zionism Is Racism’ Row

The prime minister said Labour “cannot support a partnership with a party that holds the position that it recently adopted”.

Zionism is the belief that Jewish people should have their own homeland.

The controversial motion, which was passed at the Greens’ annual conference in Brighton 10 days ago, sparked a furious row and saw the party branded “racist” by Jewish groups.

Under the Greens’ rules, it means that it is now official party policy.

At prime minister’s questions, Burnham said that unless that was ditched, he would not do any post-election deals with the Greens.

He said: “Can I condemn the motion that passed unequivocally. It is wrong, it is anti-semitic, and this side of the House will have nothing to do with it.

“We will always take the right response when it comes to partnerships with other parties.

“We cannot support a partnership with a party that holds a position that has recently been adopted.”

🚨 WATCH: Andy Burnham rules out a coalition deal with the Green Party over its “Zionism is racism” motion “It is wrong. It is antisemitic. We will have nothing to do with it” #PMQs pic.twitter.com/aSKkf5s88w

Although Labour is ahead in the opinion polls, the most likely result if an election were held now would be a hung parliament, meaning no party would have an overall Commons majority.

In that event, Labour would have to do deals with other left-of-centre parties to get its policies through parliament.

Burnham’s comments make it clear that he would be unwilling to include the Greens in any pact or coalition.

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