Ramsay's reform demands

Adrian Ramsay, the MP for Waveney Valley and a former leader of the Green party, has told the BBC what he wants changed rather than simply warning about where the party is heading. His intervention, made on BBC Newscast, centres on the mechanics of how the party decides policy after the conference vote on the 'Zionism is racism' motion, which he said only 0.4% of members backed.

His specific proposals were:

• •a ballot or survey of the wider membership on the contested motion
• •changed internal rules that give the wider membership more control over policy than the attendees of an annual conference
• •a mechanism for the motion to be disavowed, changed or rescinded sooner than the two-year cycle which party rules allow - the timetable he said Zack Polanski has spoken about

Asked directly whether he viewed Zionism as racist, Ramsay said no, adding: "No … I've made clear my position on the motion, as lots of other Greens have done". He described the situation in Gaza as appalling but argued the motion was contradictory to the Green party manifesto from 2024, saying: "We support equal rights for both Palestinians and Israelis, and Greens have always supported self-determination for all people".

Why he says small groups swing policy

Ramsay's case for the rule changes rests on his argument that flaws in the party's internal democracy allowed small organised groups an outsized influence over its agenda. A 'small number' of individuals, he said, used 'divisive' tactics to shape what the party discusses. He pointed to the vote on the motion itself: "It was 0.4% of members who voted for this", a result he said was not reflective of the membership.

He contrasted that with what he described as the party's usual character, which he said is "much more about consensus building, much less about highly fractional, highly tribal politics". He also said hard-left groups move between parties to try to influence how those parties are run.

That was how Ramsay framed the choice on BBC Newscast, adding that one option carried a risk of a divisive approach to politics.

Where the new members came from

Ramsay said some members had joined the Greens after the failure of other leftwing movements, naming George Galloway's party and Jeremy Corbyn's Your Party among them. In his view, some of those joiners from the hard left "might be more at home in the SWP or with George Galloway or with Your Party".

He said these members not only want to adopt some very hardline positions on certain issues, but bring a very different culture, and that they were seeking to change the direction of the party. His answer was not expulsion talk but a refocus, as he put it, on the party's core missions around climate and nature, as well as the cost of living crisis.

Greens Organise hits back

The internal group Greens Organise rejected the framing. A spokesperson said Ramsay "put forward his case for the future of the Green party a year ago, and lost – by a landslide 84%".

The spokesperson pointed to the party's growth under its current leader, saying over 150,000 members have joined the party under Zack's leadership, alongside what they called unprecedented electoral success. Members, the spokesperson said, "deserve representatives who focus their energy on fighting for the radical solutions" to the country's crises.

What Ramsay is not asking for

Ramsay said he had no intention of leaving the party - "I've got no intention of going anywhere" - and was not calling for Zack Polanski to stand down as leader over the handling of the row, while welcoming membership growth.

He did tell Polanski directly that he should have been present for the debate and vote despite fighting the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, saying: "I do think he should have been there and he should have expressed his view clearly". The next step Ramsay named is a way for the motion to be changed or rescinded sooner than the two years Polanski has spoken about.