The Green Party is eyeing up taxpayer cash to help fight immigration raids, the Daily Mail can reveal.
asserted
Mail → eye → raids
Several Green councils in London have already vowed to stop cooperating with Home Office officials launching immigration raids across the capital.
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councils → vow → capital
But Green-led Hackney Council is now poised to dip into the public purse to launch an 'information campaign' to tell illegal workers how to resist raids.
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Council → lead → raids
At the Green Party conference in Brighton – where Zack Polanski was joined on stage by MPs Hannah Spencer and Sian Berry – Seema Syeda, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said the charity is 'working with Hackney Council to potentially do a public information campaign' where the council will 'share information to people about their rights and how they can resist raids'.
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they → join → raids
Green Brighton and Hove councillor Nadia Barton Ahmad, who spoke at the event, proposed a council motion to 'support migrant businesses and those targeted by raids' in the summer – but it was voted down by Labour councillors.
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it → speak → councillors
Ms Barton Ahmad said yesterday: 'We have local elections here in May, and so we are hoping that within a year we will be able to pass something similar.'
uncertain
we → say → something
It comes as two former party leaders hit out at the Greens for a controversial 'Zionism is racism' motion.
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Zionism → come → motion
And in another radical move, Green members are set to vote on a policy of wiping criminal records after five years.
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members → set → years
Currently, employers or volunteer groups can request a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check for information on a potential hire's criminal history.
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employers → request → history
But Green activists will consider plans to keep details of convictions for thieving, assault, drug possession or similar crimes hidden after five years.
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details → consider → years
Under the plans, criminals with prison sentences of fewer than two years or those with suspended sentences could have their convictions hidden from DBS checks after just five years.
uncertain
convictions → suspend → years
Shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns said the Greens 'appear to be criminal apologists' last night.
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Greens → say → ?
A Green Party spokesman said: 'Any member can submit a motion.
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member → say → motion
These do not become policy until they are debated and voted on at conference.'
And it seems the Greens' increasingly radical agenda has sparked party infighting.
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agenda → become → infighting
At the conference yesterday, former party leaders Caroline Lucas and Adrian Ramsay hit out at a 'Zionism is racism' motion.
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Zionism → hit → motion
The motion defines Zionism as support for 'an ethnonationalist Jewish State' and states that it 'will be treated as any other form of racism' by the party.
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it → define → party
Zack Polanski, Hannah Spencer and Sian Berry pictured together at the party conference
Ms Lucas, who was the Greens' first ever MP, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'There is no single definition of Zionism, and irrespective of the intentions of the people who put that motion forward, I think there is a real risk that it'll be divisive and could be seen as a sign that Jewish people aren't welcome in the party.
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people → picture → party
I will not be supporting it for that reason.
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I → support → reason
'
Zionism is a movement for the creation of a country for Jewish people, which now supports the state of Israel.
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which → support → Israel
The motion, as first revealed by the Daily Mail, seeks to declare that the party is 'opposed' to Zionism.
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party → reveal → Zionism
It also supports the 'establishment of a single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital'.
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It → support → capital
Mr Ramsay, who was the Greens' co-leader until Mr Polanski took over as sole leader last year, told The Times: 'The Green Party has a strong position already on challenging the Government and I think it would just be wrong to adopt a policy that could be seen as not supporting the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians to statehood.
'
uncertain
that → take → statehood
I stand by the position the Green Party had in the 2024 manifesto, which made clear we want to see equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians.'
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want → stand → Israelis
Jewish Greens were horrified last night that Hamas-sympathetic group 'Friends of Al-Aqsa' had backed the motion.
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group → back → motion
The group's founder Ismail Patel said in 2009 that Hamas is 'no terrorist organisation' and 'we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel'.
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we → say → Israel
An immigration enforcement officer outside a house during a raid in Batley, West Yorkshire
Labour was forced to remove an event run by Friends of Al-Aqsa from its own conference agenda after fierce backlash from MPs.
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Labour → force → MPs
A Jewish member of the Greens told the Daily Mail: 'I'm deeply troubled that my party, a party with its roots in anti-discrimination and non-violence, is getting support for a divisive motion from outside groups and individuals with a problematic history of hatred towards Jews.'
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party → tell → Jews
Another said: 'The motion endorses a one state solution.
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motion → say → solution
It goes beyond all sensible discourse for a two-state solution and calls for the Jewish State to be dismantled.
asserted
State → go → solution
'Anyone recognising Israel's right to exist will be tarnished as a racist.
asserted
Anyone → recognise → racist
Mr Polanski, who is Jewish, recently declared himself to be 'an anti-Zionist'.
asserted
himself → declare → ?
A Green Party spokesman said: 'The Green Party, like any party, has a wide, diverse range of views and opinions.
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Party → say → views
[Ms Lucas] is entitled to say what she thinks, and if that influences members in a particular way then that's how it works.'
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it → entitle → way
The Aporia
