The joint administration that runs Sheffield City Council is on the verge of collapse, as the local Greens refused to disavow the party’s controversial “Zionism is racism” motion”.
After Prime Minister Andy Burnham described the motion passed at the Green conference as “anti-Semitic”, Labour groups in councils up and down the country have written to their Green coalition partners urging them to disavow it.
In the Steel City, the council has been governed in coalition between the two parties, with Labour on 26 councillors and the Greens with 19, since the May elections.
On Thursday, Sheffield Council leader Labour’s Coun Fran Belbin wrote to her Green counterpart Coun Angela Argenzio, explaining that if she did not reject the motion then the power-sharing arrangement would be broken up.
She said: "Sheffield Labour is proud to oppose racism in all its forms and will not stand by while the Green Party undermines the right to self-determination for Palestinians and Israelis."
This afternoon, the local Green group responded, declining to disavow the motion.
"Decisions about how our council is run should be made here in Sheffield, not dictated from Westminster. Does Mr Burnham not trust his local councillors to make good decisions about who should run their local areas?” Green councillors said in a statement.
"We've built a productive relationship with Sheffield Labour to deliver for the people of this city - on buses, adult social care, renewable energy and so much more.
“This administration failing would be disastrous for the city, it's embarrassing that Labour wants to tear it up for political point scoring."
"We'll be meeting with the Labour leadership to talk about how we can work through this.
"The accusation that the Sheffield Green Party is antisemitic is unfounded. We do not, and will not, conflate either Zionism and Judaism, nor anti-Zionism with antisemitism.”
In a letter to Coun Belbin, Coun Argenzio said: “Both you and I know the consequences of destabilising Sheffield City Council: for our city, for our employees and our plans for taking the city forward.
“Our responsibility goes beyond the direction you are receiving from London. If Labour chooses to destabilise Sheffield City Council over this, Labour owns the consequences.”
The Green Party response comes after Labour’s South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard made an intervention on the matter.
Mr Coppard said: “Like so many Jewish people, I was deeply hurt by the decision of the Green Party Conference to support the motion that declares ‘Zionism is racism’.
“No one of good conscience can be anything but appalled by the violence of Hamas and the current Israeli government.
“But the motion defining Zionism as racism does nothing to address the ongoing crisis in the Middle East or the suffering of the people of Israel or Palestine.”
Mr Coppard said that he backed Mr Burnham and Coun Belbin’s decision to potentially pull out of the power-sharing agreement.
“I am only stepping into this row because that has the potential to impact South Yorkshire, and the leadership agreement in place in Sheffield,” he added.
“As hard as that is, I believe it is the right decision. Principles matter in politics.”
The Sheffield Liberal Democrats, who have 22 councillors, would be a potential coalition partner should the administration fall. However, they pulled out of the previous three-party administration after the May elections.
Lib Dem Coun Rob Reiss has demanded that Green councillors make public how they voted on the controversial motion.