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Greens face conference centre ban over Zionism motion

Helen CattPolitical editor, South East
News imageEPA/Shutterstock A stage with green shapes on a green background and a large screen depicting two men and a woman with the message "real hope real change" to the left of them. A man in an olive suit stands at a lectern in front of it.EPA/Shutterstock
The Green Party conference was held in October at the Brighton Centre

The Green Party of England and Wales could be barred from holding future conferences at the Brighton Centre after the party passed a motion declaring Zionism was racism.

The leader of Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC), Labour's Bella Sankey, said she was "deeply concerned at the prospect of the Green Party returning to Brighton for future conferences".

She claimed the motion was "divisive, discriminatory and wrong" and was not compatible with Brighton & Hove's commitments to be a welcoming and inclusive city.

Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader, said he would "not accept any exclusion, or refusal to engage with anyone, because of the religious or communal body they are part of".

Refusing future bookings

BHCC owns and operates the Brighton Centre, which has hosted party political conferences for decades.

Sankey told the BBC she was considering refusing to allow the Greens to hire the venue for future events.

In a statement, she claimed the motion had "dangerously" conflated the right of Jewish self-determination with the actions of the Israeli government and risked "the safety of Jewish members and Jewish people more broadly".

News imageBrighton & Hove City Council Close up image of Bella Sankey, Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council against a painted wall.Brighton & Hove City Council
Sankey said people should never feel excluded due to their religion or beliefs

Zionism is the belief in the right to a Jewish homeland.

Sankey went on to accuse the Green Party's leadership of a "dereliction of duty", adding "the Brighton Centre is owned by all of us in the city and should never be a place where people feel excluded due to their religion or beliefs".

Green Party sources have rejected Sankey's characterisation of the motion.

Polanski, who is Jewish, said that antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state "are, and must always be, completely distinct - blurring the line between the two is not only wrong but antisemitic, and makes Jewish people less safe".

He added: "It's our role as a movement for justice to protect both the rights of Palestinians and our Jewish communities here in the UK."

The Brighton Centre was used by both the Greens and Liberal Democrats to host their autumn conferences this year.

The venue has also hosted Labour's annual gathering in previous years.

In 2017, the council's then-leader, Warren Morgan, who also represented Labour, threatened to ban his own party from holding its conference at the venue over concerns that anti-semitic views had been aired.

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