Green MP And Former Leader Blames By-Election For 'Zionism Is Racism' Motion Passing

A Green Party MP has blamed the Holborn and St Pancras by-election campaign for distracting the party leadership at a time when members were voting on the “Zionism is racism” motion.

Activists at the Green conference in Brighton last Sunday voted 1,022 to 813 in favour of the controversial motion, which saw the party being branded “racist”.

Party leader Zack Polanski abstained to vote in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election – which he subsequently lost to Labour.

He has been heavily criticised for his absence, with former Green leader Caroline Lucas telling the BBC: “He should have been there.”

Polanski has since revealed he would not have voted for the motion without amendments.

Sian Berry, previously the co-leader of the Green Party, addressed the chaos of the last week by apologising to her members and Brighton Pavilion constituents.

She was one of the party’s four MPs – out of five – who publicly opposed the motion, but still said she takes her “full share of personal responsibility” for the result.

In a post on Bluesky, Berry wrote: “The clash of conference with an exciting and mobilising by-election campaign meant many of us were persuaded not to campaign publicly for these ends, while proposers were very organised and remained intent upon no changes at all.

“I want to take my full share of personal responsibility for the result of all this in the votes at conference.

“I should have worked harder to persuade more of our leading figures to speak up in a unified way to say that the motion as written was clearly not reflective of values and policy principles.”

She acknowledged there was “genuine worry” from people across the country about what the motion means, and “genuine damage being done to our strong reputation as a leading, principled and inclusive voice for human rights in Palestine”.

“I regret this hugely and apologise to members and constituents for where we are now as a party, which I know is causing real concern.”

She added: “To Green party members – especially those for whom thoughts of leaving must have crossed their minds in recent days – I say please stay and let us fix this together.”

She said: “The party’s currently stated policy on this issue does not reflect my values.”

Berry did not join the call from the chair of the Jewish Greens Committee Vivien Lichtenstein for Polanski to step down.

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