The Labour Party has ended power-sharing agreements with the Green Party in 11 councils, saying the Greens’ national policy on Zionism prevents cooperation at any level of government.

The affected authorities include Sheffield, Warwick and Lewes. Labour said local agreements existed in 18 councils, but 11 had failed to meet conditions set by the party after Green members approved the policy at their national conference in October.

Labour chair Bridget Phillipson said the policy crossed a line and that Labour could not work with any party supporting it. The Green Party said it was “hugely disappointed”, arguing that Labour had forced local leaders to put effective progressive partnerships at risk.

The Green Party and the Local Government Association Green Group criticised what they called top-down instructions to disrupt locally managed services. They said local communities, councillors and leaders should be trusted to decide what works best for residents.

The motion approved by Green members described Zionism as an ideology supporting an “ethnonationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine” and backed the creation of a single democratic Palestinian state, including the territory of modern-day Israel. The policy has divided senior Green figures and drawn condemnation from Jewish groups and opposition parties.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told MPs in October that Labour would not enter partnerships with the Greens because of what he described as an antisemitic policy. Labour subsequently asked local Green groups to disavow the motion and urge the party’s national leadership to reconsider it.

The councils where Labour is ending cooperation are Arun, Derbyshire Dales, Havant, Lewes, Runnymede, Sheffield, Stafford, Warwick, Wealden, West Devon and West Suffolk. Labour said its conditions had been met in Broadland, Monmouthshire, North Somerset, Rother, West Oxfordshire and West Sussex. Coventry has no formal arrangement, and Labour said none would be established there.

Labour will continue working with the Greens in the West of England mayoralty, where the deputy mayor is a Green member. In the affected councils, Labour and Green councillors will need to seek other coalition partners or attempt to govern as minority administrations. The breakdown could also delay votes on budgets and policies affecting hundreds of thousands of residents.

Sheffield is among the largest councils involved. Following the May 2026 elections, 25 Labour councillors and 20 Green councillors formed a power-sharing administration for the city’s 550,000 residents. Sheffield Green leader Angela Argenzio said local councillors were being directed by the national Labour leadership and stressed that they were not antisemitic.

Sheffield Labour leader Fran Belbin said her group would propose moving to a Labour minority administration, declaring that the joint arrangement had reached the end of the road and that trust in the local Greens had broken down.

Green co-leader Rachel Millward, who also leads Wealden Council, accused Labour of disrupting councils because of concern about Green electoral success. She argued that criticism of Israel’s government should not be treated as antisemitism.

In Warwick, the local Green Party said it would not condemn a policy approved democratically by its members because of political pressure. In Havant, Green group leader Netty Shepherd described the coalition’s collapse as a disaster for residents and said local councillors were primarily concerned with issues such as refuse collection and town-centre regeneration.

Sources: BBC News UK.