The Green Party faces a deepening crisis over institutional antisemitism as multiple parliamentary and local election candidates have been revealed to have made offensive statements about Jewish people, including one who allegedly called them "cockroaches" and a Newcastle candidate who ran an "antisemitic Anne Frank account" on social media.
The allegations, first reported by The Telegraph, have drawn immediate comparisons to Labour's struggles with antisemitism during the Jeremy Corbyn era. Like Labour before them, the Greens appear to be grappling with a pattern of offensive behaviour that suggests institutional failings rather than isolated incidents.
The party has also quietly removed its migration policies from public view on its website ahead of local elections, a move that critics say demonstrates the Greens are aware they have a problem but are choosing to hide it rather than address it head-on. As they say in Westminster, "the constitution is what happens"—precedent matters more than law. And the precedent here, from Labour's Corbyn years, is that institutional antisemitism problems rarely resolve themselves through silence.
The Newcastle candidate allegedly operated a social media account parodying Anne Frank in a manner described as antisemitic by Jewish community leaders. Another candidate reportedly used the term "cockroaches" to describe Jewish people, language that echoes some of the most hateful genocidal rhetoric of the 20th century. The Green Party has not yet announced whether these candidates have been suspended or will face disciplinary action.
The parallels to Labour's crisis are striking. Under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour struggled for years with accusations that the party leadership was insufficiently responsive to antisemitism complaints, that disciplinary processes were inadequate, and that a culture had developed in which offensive statements about Jewish people were tolerated or minimised. The matter resulted in an Equality and Human Rights Commission investigation that found Labour had broken equality law.
For the Greens, the timing could hardly be worse. With local elections imminent and the party polling at around 16% nationally—its highest sustained support in recent memory—the antisemitism allegations threaten to undermine the party's progressive credentials and alienate key voter blocs. The decision to hide migration policies from the public website suggests party strategists understand the electoral danger but have chosen obfuscation over accountability.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who made rooting out antisemitism from Labour a cornerstone of his leadership, was quick to condemn the Green Party's handling of related incidents, including Green London Assembly member Zack Polanski's sharing of posts critical of police handling of the Golders Green stabbings. Starmer said Polanski "is not fit to lead a political party," a pointed reference to the institutional failures that allowed such behaviour to flourish.
The electoral implications are significant. The Greens have positioned themselves as the progressive alternative to Labour in many urban constituencies, particularly among younger voters disillusioned with Starmer's centrist positioning. But antisemitism allegations risk severing those connections, particularly in areas with significant Jewish populations. London boroughs such as Barnet and Hackney, where the Greens have been making gains, could prove especially difficult territory if the party is perceived as failing to address bigotry within its ranks.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer has yet to make a comprehensive public statement addressing the depth of the problem. The party's decentralised structure—local parties enjoy significant autonomy in candidate selection—may complicate disciplinary action, but it does not absolve the national leadership of responsibility for setting standards and enforcing them.
Westminster observers will be watching closely to see whether the Greens can avoid Labour's mistakes. The test of an institution is not whether problems arise—they inevitably do—but how swiftly and seriously it addresses them. Labour's failure on this front cost the party dearly, both electorally and morally. The Greens now face the same test, and their response will define whether they are a serious party capable of governing or merely another vehicle for ideological factionalism that tolerates the intolerable.
