Ex-Greens co-leader urges council groups to reject Zionism policy

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

correspondent, P. W. S. p. (2026, October 20). Ex-Greens co-leader urges council groups to reject Zionism policy. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/20/greens-adrian-ramsay-council-groups-reject-zionism-racism-policy

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-10-20 · by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent

Quick Summary

Adrian Ramsay, former co-leader of the Greens in England and Wales, has urged local Green councillors to reject their party’s controversial "Zionism is racism" policy if necessary to maintain power in local government coalitions. The policy was adopted at the recent party conference and calls for a single Palestinian state replacing Israel. Ramsay advises Green groups to clearly oppose the motion but emphasizes the importance of maintaining alliances with other parties, such as Labour and Liberal Democrats, to continue providing essential services to residents. His stance contrasts with current co-leader Zack Polanski’s position on upholding the official party line without compromise.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-20, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Adrian Ramsay, former co-leader of the Greens in England and Wales, has urged local council members within his party to reject a recently adopted motion that equates Zionism with racism if doing so helps them maintain political power. This move reflects ongoing internal discord within the party over the policy, which also advocates for a single Palestinian state replacing Israel. Last week, Labour instructed its local affiliates sharing councils with Greens to end these collaborations unless the Green partners disavow the controversial motion. Ramsay stated that while he respects Green groups' reluctance to be pressured into action by Labour, it is crucial for them to take a clear stance and preserve coalition efforts where possible. His public call now positions him at odds with current co-leader Zack Polanski, who likely supports the motion adopted during the party conference earlier this month.

Written for “Zionism Policy Rejection Call” on 2026-10-20, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.45, but all 3 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 92956: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-20

Story

📰 Zionism Policy Rejection Call
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 11% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 20 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles discuss related but different events: Article A reports on a statement by Scottish Green co-leader Gillian Mackay, while Article B covers an appeal by former Greens co-leader Adrian Ramsay against the same motion.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 1 of 16 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles describe different aspects of the 'Zionism is racism' policy within the Green party, but they are not reporting on the same specific incident or time.”
The Guardian · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 30 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles discuss the fallout from the Green party's 'Zionism is racism' policy, they describe different aspects and reactions to it occurring at different times.”
Evening Standard · 0.85 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 13 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles discuss similar political actions related to a motion passed by the Green Party and Labour's response, they describe different stages or aspects of the ongoing situation rather than the exact same specific event.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 16 📰 publisher trust 64
“While both articles discuss Labour's response to the Greens' 'Zionism is racism' stance, Article A focuses on Labour's review and potential sacrifice of power-sharing deals with the Greens due to this policy, while Article B covers internal dissent within the Green party over the same issue, with a focus on Adrian Ramsay's urging for councillors to reject the motion.”
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 4% hedged 1 of 23 📰 publisher trust 69
“While both articles discuss the conflict between Labour and the Green Party over Zionism policy, they describe different aspects of the ongoing situation.”
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 2 of 21 📰 publisher trust 69
“While both articles discuss the 'Zionism is racism' motion passed by the Green Party, Article A focuses on the Equality and Human Rights Commission's response to the motion, while Article B covers internal dissent within the party over the policy.”
BBC News
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 10 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles discuss related events concerning the 'Zionism is racism' motion but describe different aspects: Article A focuses on Polanski's stance and comments, while Article B highlights Ramsay's urging of councillors to reject the motion.”
Evening Standard · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 1 of 17 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A discusses Labour's ultimatum to end coalitions with the Greens unless they condemn a policy, while Article B focuses on Adrian Ramsay urging Green councillors to reject the policy for local power reasons.”
Evening Standard · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 2 of 31 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles discuss the Labour ultimatum to end coalitions with the Greens over a policy, they describe different aspects of the situation at distinct points in time.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
11%
2 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 2138 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Peter Walker Senior political correspondent
18 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Adrian Ramsay, the former co-leader of the Greens, has urged his party’s councillors to reject the newly adopted “Zionism is racism” motion if it will help them stay in power in local government, in a fresh sign of internal dissent over the policy.
🔮 In post-byelection interviews, Polanski said he would have voted against the motion had he attended.
🔮 A low turnout of 38.7% and Abdi-Wali’s numerically modest 3,364 majority that resulted might not appear the greatest endorsement of the government, but it is also likely to have been in part due to the widespread assumption that Labour would win.
🔮 Justifying the Conservatives’ decision to scrap the target of the UK reaching net zero emissions by 2050, introduced under Theresa May, the document says that estimates of how much this would cost the economy “have varied enormously”.
🔮 Failure to win the seat by a reasonable margin could end his honeymoon period and bring renewed doubts about Labour’s ability to protect inner-city seats from the Greens, who won several London councils in May’s local elections. Holborn and St Pancras could be promising ground for the Greens, with a young and diverse population that includes many students.
🔮 It would involve a doubling of the defence budget in nominal terms from £70bn in 2026 to £151bn in 2035, according to the Transition Security Project, a research centre which was spun out of Common Wealth, a thinktank with close links to Andy Burnham.
🔮 The head of the Jewish Greens has said she may leave the party after it voted to adopt a policy that equates Zionism with racism and calls for Israel to be replaced by a single Palestinian state.
🔮 The forthcoming Conservative conference will be, almost everyone in the party agrees, notably more upbeat and unified than last year.
🔮 The Conservatives have unveiled a proposed £700m childcare giveaway for high earners ahead of their annual conference, saying they would end the “cliff edge” where free entitlement ends at salaries above £100,000.
🔮 Some Jewish members have said privately they fear it will be difficult for them to remain in the party if the policy passes.
Also by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 18 articles by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent →

Topics

Green Greens Israel Labour Palestinian

Subjects

Greens ORG · 7× Labour ORG · 7× Green NORP · 6× Ramsay PERSON · 6× Israel GPE · 2× Palestinian NORP · 2× Polanski PERSON · 2× Adrian Ramsay PERSON · 1× England GPE · 1× Guardian ORG · 1×

Narrative

Ramsay said his advice to other groups still deciding was to make their opposition to the motion clear if that was what they believed, saying it would “reassure a lot of people in your communities, and it will enable you to continue making a real difference for your residents”.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-20
🔮 Adrian Ramsay, the former co-leader of the Greens, has urged his party’s councillors to reject the newly adopted “Zionism is racism” motion if it will help them stay in power in local government, in a fresh sign of internal dissent over the policy.
2026-10-20 · The Guardian
Ex-Greens co-leader urges council groups to reject Zionism policy · assertive framing

Claims (19 extracted, 2 hedged)

Adrian Ramsay, the former co-leader of the Greens, has urged his party’s councillors to reject the newly adopted “Zionism is racism” motion if it will help them stay in power in local government, in a fresh sign of internal dissent over the policy. asserted
them → urge → policy
Ramsay, one of the Greens’ five MPs, said he was pleased that a number of Green council groups had already condemned the policy, which was adopted at the party’s conference and also calls for a single Palestinian state in place of Israel. asserted
which → say → Israel
Last week, Labour ordered its local parties who share power on councils with Greens to terminate the deals if the local Greens did not disown the policy motion. asserted
Greens → order → motion
In a statement to the Guardian, Ramsay, who co-led the Greens in England and Wales for four years until Zack Polanski took over last year, said that while he understood why Green groups might not want to be “bullied” into action by Labour, it was important for them to be clear about the motion and to maintain coalitions where possible. uncertain
them → co → coalitions
Ramsay expressed his opposition to the motion before the vote at the party conference earlier this month but had subsequently not commented. asserted
Ramsay → express → conference
Such a public call to Green councillors places him at odds with Polanski, who has said he will not seek to overturn the motion, and with the official party line, which stated that the Greens will “not take lectures” from a Labour government that supplies arms to Israel. asserted
that → place → Israel
A series of Green council groups who share power with Labour have already rejected the motion, including Lewes, Warwick, Rother and Havant. asserted
who → share → Lewes
Among other groups to have disowned the policy are the Greens in Southwark, who did so to maintain a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. asserted
who → disown → Democrats
Ramsay said such groups “have been brave in speaking out about such a contentious motion”. asserted
groups → say → motion
He said: “They have supported the Green party’s strong position of calling out the ethnic cleansing and war crimes in Gaza and how this must be combined with upholding the right of both Palestinians and Israelis to statehood and self-determination. asserted
this → say → statehood
Calling out a genocide is more important than debating definitions of Zionism.” asserted
Calling → call → Zionism
Ramsay said his advice to other groups still deciding was to make their opposition to the motion clear if that was what they believed, saying it would “reassure a lot of people in your communities, and it will enable you to continue making a real difference for your residents”. asserted
it → say → residents
He said Labour’s ultimatum about the policy was “entirely predictable” and it was understandable that Green councillors “don’t want to be bullied into making a statement by a diktat from the national Labour party which has been served on local Labour groups”. asserted
which → say → groups
It would, however, “be incredibly sad to see joint council administrations fold because of this – especially as the alternative will often be a rightwing coalition that could see services put at risk”, he argued. uncertain
he → see → risk
Green-run or jointly run councils were making a real difference, Ramsay said. asserted
Ramsay → run → difference
“We can’t let this be undermined by a party conference motion which is a distraction from this work, and which I am confident is not supported by most party members.” asserted
I → let → members
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Polanski defended the motion and said the policy would stand for at least two years, given party rules, but he wanted to amend it to remove the call for a single Palestinian state. asserted
he → speak → state
He said: “I’m not going to try and overturn it. asserted
I → say → it
At the first available opportunity, I do want to amend it.” asserted
I → want → it
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