Several senior Liberal Democrats have invited Green Party members to defect after the Greens’ conference voted for a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism.
The motion passed on Sunday at the Greens’ conference in Brighton by 1,022 votes to 813, despite the opposition of senior Green figures such as Caroline Lucas and Adrian Ramsay. Zack Polanski, the leader of the Greens since September 2025, did not take part in the vote, having left conference early to campaign in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, where he is a candidate.
Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said the Greens had been “captured”.
In a post to X, Farron stated: “That the party leader [Zack Polanski] skipped this vote and failed to use his authority to argue against… is an astonishing act of weakness. Real Greens are welcome in the Lib Dems.”
Farron currently serves as Liberal Democrat spokesperson for environment, food and rural affairs.
Jess Brown-Fuller, the Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson, said she felt “profoundly sad” for Greens “that joined a party thinking they were going to be environmentalists”.
She added: “If you’re a Green Party member and your political foundation is rooted in equality for all, as well as being a proud custodian of our natural world, you can find your political home in the Liberal Democrats.”
Responding to Farron’s post, Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller said the vote was “deeply wrong”, adding that his fellow MP “nails it: this represents a deeply harmful failure of judgement”.
Luke Taylor, the Lib Dems’ London spokesperson, said the motion “actively undermines a two-state solution” and “does not address the rising threats of islamophobia and antisemitism here in the UK”.
In a statement, he called it “a divisive motion that pours fuel on the fire of tensions in the UK”, adding that it “will leave many British Jews feeling less safe”.
Taylor added: “To those that joined the Green Party thinking it was a political movement that cared about the environment and tackling the climate crisis – you are welcome in the Liberal Democrats.”
The motion passed at Green Party Conf' actively undermines a 2-state solution, and does not address the rising threats of Islamophobia and Antisemitism here in the UK.This is a divisive motion that pours fuel on the fire of tensions in the UK, and will leave many British Jews feeling less safe.
— Luke Taylor MP (@luketaylorld.bsky.social) 2026-10-04T16:21:42.511Z
Vikki Slade, the Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, said many Green members would be “at home” in her party.
In a post to Bluesky, Slade said: “Many Green Party members are there because they are passionate environmentalists – they would be at home with the party of the Climate and Nature Bill, Sunshine Bill and UNESCO Chalk Streams Bill.”
Slade said her party’s “support for Palestine, alongside a secure Israel has been unwavering”.
Four of the Green Party’s five MPs – Ramsay, Ellie Chowns, Carla Denyer and Siân Berry – expressed public opposition to the motion.
Ramsay, who served as co-leader of the Greens from 2021 to 2025 alongside Denyer, said the motion would “be widely viewed as going against” the party’s long-held principles in a statement before the vote.
Chowns said the party risked “alienating many people, including in Jewish communities.”
She added: “Defining a highly personal and variable identity simply as racism risks reinforcing exactly the zero-sum politics we desperately need to get beyond.”
Chowns and Ramsay stood on a joint ticket in the 2025 Greens leadership election. In this contest, Polanski prevailed with 20,411 votes (84.1%) among the Green membership; Chowns and Ramsay polled 3,705 votes (15.3%).
After the conference vote on Sunday, Ramsay said he was “deeply saddened” that the motion had passed.
He added: “It doesn’t reflect Green principles or my own view.”
Ramsay signed a joint statement alongside Polanski, the party’s five MPs – including Hannah Spencer – and its deputy leaders, Rachel Millward and Mothin Ali.
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The statement said: “As Greens, we will always uphold universal human rights. We will never tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment.
“We will continue to stand in opposition to genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and the illegal occupation.
“We will continue to call out the heinous crimes of the Netanyahu government. And we will continue to work to ensure that the Green Party is an anti-racist party in every way.
“We know there is no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people.”
In the wake of the vote, Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson said it was “shameful to vote against a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine and to condemn the vast majority of British Jews and Jews around the world as racist for supporting Israel’s right to exist”.
She said the leadership of the Green Party “must make clear that this will not be their position moving forwards”.
Phillipson added: “The Labour Party has always been clear that criticism of the policies of the Israeli government is not antisemitic, and the Labour government has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
“But [Sunday’s] vote at the Green Party conference crosses a line and should be condemned across the political spectrum.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “British Jews should not have to disclaim a belief in Jewish self-determination and the existence of Israel in order to be accepted by a British political party.”
He said one look beneath the surface of Polanski’s party “shows a party toxic to its core”.
