Brighton Greens face conference centre ban over Zionism motion

The Green Party is facing a potential ban from its autumn conference home at the Brighton Centre after passing a highly controversial motion concerning Zionism.

Bella Sankey, the leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, which owns the venue, warned that the party may no longer be welcome there. She accused the Greens' leadership of a "dereliction of duty" over the vote, arguing that the council-owned building should "never be a place where people feel excluded due to their religion or beliefs".

The row centres on a motion passed at the party's autumn conference in the seaside city, which reportedly equated Zionism—the belief in the right to a Jewish homeland—with racism.

The dispute over the motion

While the exact wording of the motion has sparked fierce internal debate, its passage has already caused deep rifts. Green Party sources have pushed back against the council leader's description of the motion, rejecting the idea that it was exclusionary or that it targeted individuals based on their faith.

Zack Polanski, the Green Party's deputy leader, who is Jewish, defended the party's right to debate the issue. He argued that antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state must remain entirely separate.

"Antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state are, and must always be, completely distinct," Polanski said, adding that "blurring the line between the two is not only wrong but antisemitic, and makes Jewish people less safe." He insisted that the party’s role as a "movement for justice" means protecting both Palestinian rights and British Jewish communities.

A recurring battleground for Brighton

This is not the first time Brighton’s municipal leadership has threatened to lock its doors to a national political party over allegations of prejudice.

In 2017, Warren Morgan, who was then the Labour leader of the council, threatened to ban his own party from using the Brighton Centre. That warning followed concerns that antisemitic views had been openly aired during Labour’s annual conference, highlighting how the city's premier venue has frequently become a battleground for national political arguments.

The Brighton Centre is one of the mainstay venues of the UK political autumn conference season. This year, it hosted both the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats, and it has previously been a regular stop for Labour's annual gatherings.

Whether the council will follow through on its threat to bar the Greens remains to be seen. If the local authority decides to enforce a ban, it would leave the Green Party searching for a new destination for its national events, disrupting its future conference planning.