The Green candidate for the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election, Geraldine Coggins, will pledge to twin the city with Ramallah if she wins.
Coggins reportedly said that a partnership with Ramallah would create opportunities for long-term collaboration between the cities.
In their manifesto for the city’s upcoming mayoral election the Greens said they wanted to twin Manchester with a Palestinian city.
In the document titled ‘Hope for Greater Manchester’, produced ahead of the July 30 poll that was triggered by the resignation of former mayor and now PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham, the party’s candidate Coggins claimed she wanted to focus on “practical action” to help struggling Mancunians and not “flashy announcements”.
However, later on in the manifesto she said: “I will explore opportunities to twin Manchester with a city in Palestine, creating lasting partnerships between our communities and demonstrating our commitment to peace, justice and human dignity.”
Coggins went on to say she will “call on Westminster to stop arming the genocide in Gaza and call for urgent international efforts to end the illegal occupation of Palestinian land”.
Elsewhere in the manifesto the Green mayoral hopeful said she planned to engage the Greater Manchester Pension Fund in order to “press for divestment from oil and gas and companies complicit in illegal aggression, war crimes or genocide”.
Guidance from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government prohibits councils from boycotting Israeli companies or those that trade with Israel. Companies are able to sue any council practising boycott, divestment and sanctions under procurement laws.
The Greens are third behind Labour and Reform UK in the first mayoral election poll.
However, they will hope they can repeat their success at the February by-election in Gorton and Denton – a constituency in Greater Manchester – when Hannah Spencer became their fifth MP.
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