Labour-Green council deals are being broken up because Labour has made continued local cooperation conditional on local Green groups condemning the Green Party’s “Zionism is racism” policy. The decision brings a national party dispute into council administration, but the available reporting does not show that every affected authority will become ungovernable.
Labour said it would stop cooperation in Arun, Derbyshire Dales, Havant, Lewes, Sheffield, Stafford, Warwick, Wealden, West Devon and West Suffolk because their Green groups had not met its condition. It also included Runnymede in its list of 11 authorities, while saying cooperation there had already ceased. That timing matters: the reports do not support describing all 11 arrangements as having ended on the same day.
The disputed Green policy, passed at the party conference in October, defines Zionism as racism, rejects a two-state solution and calls for a single Palestinian state with equal rights for all. Labour chair Bridget Phillipson said the policy crossed a line and that Labour could not work with a party that supported it. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has sought information from the Greens to assess the motion’s practical implications and possible impact.
Labour’s test has not been applied simply on the presence of Green councillors. It says six Green groups condemned the motion, so arrangements in Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire and West Sussex will remain. Cooperation is also continuing in the West of England mayoralty. The political point is explicit: Labour is requiring a local repudiation of the national policy before maintaining local governing arrangements.
The consequences remain council-specific. In Sheffield, where Labour and Green councillors had shared power after the May 2026 elections, Sheffield Labour leader Fran Belbin said Labour would propose a minority administration on Wednesday. BBC News reports that affected Labour and Green councillors may seek alternative partners or try to govern as minorities, and that budgets and policy decisions could take longer to pass.
The Greens and their Local Government Association group say Labour’s ultimatum jeopardises partnerships that deliver for residents. Havant Green group leader Netty Shepherd separately argued that foreign policy was outside her local remit. That is the strongest practical objection: a national policy dispute may disrupt local arrangements. Labour’s stated answer is that cooperation cannot override its obligation to oppose what it considers antisemitism.
The next issue is not an assumed collapse of services, but the evidence at each council: whether a new administration can secure support for budgets and major decisions, beginning with Sheffield’s proposed minority arrangement.
Sources: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c63dj21yvjd3o?at_campaign=rss&at_medium=RSS | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/nov/02/labour-end-cooperation-green-party-councils-zionism-racism-policy
Sources
- BBC UK · Source date: 2026-11-02
- The Guardian · UK · Source date: 2026-11-02
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-02