The communities secretary has issued a stark warning against voting for the Green Party in tomorrow’s local elections, saying that “racists” should not be running local authorities.
In an explosive interview with the JC, Steve Reed urged Labour groups up and down the country to avoid coalitions with the “racists” in Green Party after the election results, blasted the comments of several local candidates – one of whom he accused of sharing imagery that could have come from the Third Reich – and said that Zack Polanski’s party had been “occupied” by people chucked out of the Labour Party for antisemitism.
Reed has been a leading Labour figure in criticising the Green Party for the remarks of their candidates and publicly rebuking the leadership for their inaction during the local election campaign.
Part of the reason for this, he says, is that as communities secretary he is responsible for social cohesion, but another reason is quite literally closer to home.
“Some of the worst examples of Green Party candidates saying antisemitic things are from my constituency. So, I'm very, very concerned about the impact on that, on my constituency in general, but on the Jewish population of my constituency in particular”, he said, noting that he has a synagogue in his south London constituency.
One of the candidates for Streatham St Leonards, Saqia Ali, shared images of claiming that Donald Trump is “owned by Jews” and of a snake with the star of David and in the colours of the Israeli flag wrapping itself round the globe along with the caption “It’s time to cut the head of this snake. #FreePalestine”. She has since apologised for her remarks and was allegedly arrested for offensive social media posts.
“Now that is an image that could have come from the Third Reich”, Reed said, adding accusing the Greens of failing to act to remove Ali as a candidate.
“The Green Party knew about that for weeks, if not months, and they did nothing until it was exposed in the media, and even then, they haven't apologised, they haven't explained. They haven't made it clear she is their candidate or not. They just tried to cover it up”.
He went on to accuse the local branch of the Green Party of campaigning for her despite details of her offensive materials being in the public domain.
“This last weekend, Streatham Greens, knowing that Saqia Ali had been exposed for what she'd been posting online, put out a letter to all residents saying that the whole situation with antisemitism was a cynically misrepresentation by the Labour Party. Now none of that is true. None of it is recognising that they may have made a mistake in putting Saqia Ali up for election. They're doubling down on it, and they're trying to cover it up”, he said.
A MESSAGE FROM JEWISH GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES IN LAMBETH
— Cllr Martin Abrams (@Martin_Abrams) May 3, 2026
May 2026
Dear Neighbour,
Lambeth Labour are engaging in relentless negative campaigning because they know that for the first time in 20 years there is a serious challenge to their failing regime. We are proudly Jewish… pic.twitter.com/B6ZydJMHmr
A letter from three Jewish Green candidates in Lambeth didn’t mention Ali’s comments and accused Labour of a “cynical misrepresentation of our party”, adding: “We will never allow antisemitism or any form of racism to gain a foothold in Lambeth. Under a Green-led Lambeth, we will work every day to keep our Jewish community, and all minoritised communities, safe.”
Given the frequency with which Labour MPs raise Israel or Gaza in the chamber of the House of Commons, is it not the case that that the Greens have realised that the conflict in the Middle East is an issue that mobilises voters and are doing a better job of attracting supporters than Labour?
Reed didn’t think so. He claimed that as the Conservative Party was “still so unpopular”, other parties were hoovering up the discontent with the government that is not uncommon in normal electoral cycles.
“In the early, mid period of most five-year governments, tends to be the case that the governing party does less well in local elections. In normal circumstances, that vote would go to the main opposition party, but the Conservatives are still so unpopular, it's going to other places”, he said.
However, the communities secretary thinks that the Green Party is more sinister than most voters realise.
“I think the voters think the Greens are a fairly inoffensive party that cares about the environment. They don't know they've been occupied by a large number of Momentum people … People from the Momentum grouping inside Labour who had a lot of antisemites in them, and who were kicked out of the Labour Party by Keir Starmer.”
The JC revealed in March that Tony Greenstein, a Jewish former Labour activist who unsuccessfully sued the Campaign Against Antisemitism for libel after they called him a “notorious antisemite” had joined the party.
Similarly, the founder of the Jewish Greens group warned that an influx of former Labour members risked reshaping the party.
Reed went on: “I think voters don't quite realise what it is they might be getting, and I see it as my job to warn voters: these are not the nice, cuddly environmental Greens you used to know in the past. These are quite often hardline antisemites who harbour a quite deep resentment towards the Jewish community. And that is not just an attack on the Jewish community … It's actually an attack on all of us who care about the kind of Britain we want to live in”.
A former leader of Lambeth council, Reed said that while “councils do sometimes change control”, he was worried that people who had been chucked out of the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn could end up in positions of power and influence.
“What worries me is that we spent years trying to expose and expel the antisemites from Labour when Jeremy Corbyn was leader. I helped set up Labour Together [a moderate grouping within the party], which helped then set up the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, which did a lot of the work in exposing and identifying the antisemites, who we then kicked out.”
Reed continued: “Instead of leaving politics, they've walked straight into the Green Party and found it easy to get themselves selected as candidates for election because there were so few alternative members in there to stand. So having kicked them out the Labour Party, they're now standing for the Green Party” adding that there was a risk some might now be elected.
“I, frankly, don't think racists should be running councils”, the communities secretary added.
Asked whether he thought that Labour groups on local councils should avoid coalitions with the Green Party, he said that was a matter for local Labour groups.
However, that they should avoid any deals where candidates had made offensive comments.
“I would caution any Labour group against doing any kind of deal, if that proved necessary, with Green councillors who have been saying anything that's racist. I don't think it's safe.”
Reed continued: “Currently, we've got green candidates making antisemitic comments. If they are elected, we’ll have Green councillors who have made antisemitic … they would then hold real power and have access to council resources, and could take all kinds of decisions that would be very, very damaging to the Jewish community in particular, but to social cohesion more generally. And that worries me immensely.”
The Green Party has been contacted for comment.
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