Polanski signals Green leaders could get more power over policy amid Zionism row

Green Party leader Zack Polanski (Will Colebourne/PA)PA WireHelen Corbett1 minute agoNews Briefings

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Zack Polanski has signalled he could usher in changes to the Greens’ style of grassroots democracy and give more power to leaders to set the party’s direction after a vote to define Zionism as a form of racism.

The move taken by members at a Green Party conference vote, which Mr Polanski did not take part in, has prompted a backlash within the party and more widely.

The party has seen membership surge to more than 200,000 since Mr Polanski took over as leader, pledging an eco-populist agenda.

Former leader Caroline Lucas suggested there had been ‘entryism’ towards the party (Jordan Pettitt/PA)PA ArchiveBut the motion passed at the Brighton conference with around 1,000 members voting in favour and some 800 against.

Former leader Caroline Lucas suggested there had been “entryism”, in which activists joined the Greens solely to back last weekend’s motion rather than because they supported the party.

And Green MP Ellie Chowns said there had been a “lack of leadership” from Mr Polanski over the motion, and that such a small number of members being able to push through “significant and damaging policy” showed that “something isn’t working in our structures and our policy-making process”.

Writing in The Guardian on Sunday, Mr Polanski suggested the party needed to adapt its processes going forward.

He wrote: “Our party has grown to a size none of us could have anticipated when I became leader.

“Our party democracy must now evolve to meet that – creating wider engagement for members, giving leaders more responsibility to set the party’s strategic direction, and making our processes as robust and accessible as possible.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski acknowledged that some felt ‘let down’ by his decision to campaign for his by-election bid instead of voting (Jordan Pettitt/PA)PA WireMr Polanski said he agreed with the broad substance of the motion, but said there are “elements of the motion that I don’t agree with, such as dictating the future shape of a state in Israel and Palestine”.

He also acknowledged that some felt “let down” by his decision to skip the vote to campaign for his bid to become an MP in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, which he lost to Labour this week.

The motion set into Green policy that Zionism is defined as a form of racism and support for the establishment of “a single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine”.

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Despite becoming policy, it does not mean it will necessarily appear in the future manifesto and the party’s MPs – four out of five of which rejected the move – are not obligated to back it.

Ms Chowns told the BBC on Saturday that she wants to make sure her party is not “vulnerable to capture by extremists and racists” as she issued a call for the party’s policies to represent the views of the majority of members of the Green Party.

Former co-leader and Green MP Adrian Ramsay has called for the party to get “back on track” and return to its “core purpose” of championing environmental causes in the wake of the vote.