Ex-Green Party leader issues ‘hard-left takeover’ warning as Zack Polanski faces pressure

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Ramsay argued that the Green Party, led by Mr Polanski, is “at a crossroads”.

He said: “I think there’s a real crossroads point for the party at the moment.

“And one option is to dig in, but I think that there’s a risk it brings with it a quite divisive approach to politics.

“Which you’ve seen from small groups of people on the hard left of politics who go around different parties to try to influence how those parties are run.”

Mr Ramsay criticised members of the party who take a more “hard left” stance on issues and “adopt some very hardline positions” on those issues.

He explained: “There is also a small number of people who have joined, perhaps from the very hard left of politics, who might be more at home in the SWP or with George Galloway or with Your Party.

“[They] not only want to adopt some very hardline positions on certain issues, but have a very different culture to how they go about it.”

He urged Mr Polanski to reassert the “core values” and “ways of working” of the Green Party, fearing the hard left members are “seeking to change the direction of the party”.

Mr Ramsay said the Greens should be “much more about consensus building, much less about highly fractional, highly tribal politics, and of course about the environment”.

The former co-leader expressed his criticism of the party’s recent “Zionism is racism” motion, passed at the Green Party conference last month.

He argued that a “small number” of individuals used “divisive” tactics to influence the party’s agenda on the issue.

Mr Ramsay told the BBC: “It was 0.4 per cent of members who voted for this.

“And I don’t think that’s reflective of party members as a whole, it’s certainly not reflective of those I speak to.

“I’ve made clear my position on the motion, as lots of other Greens have done.”

He called on Mr Polanski to refocus the party’s mission on climate and the cost of living crisis, arguing it will “unite” Green members.

Mr Ramsay said: “I think that will unite our members. I think it will ensure we still have a wide appeal as a party.

“We need to find a way for this motion to be changed or rescinded sooner than the two years that Zack is talking about … changing the fact that a policy can’t be reviewed until two years is up.”

Taking aim at Mr Polanski’s absence from the recent Holborn and St Pancras by-election, Mr Ramsay said: “I do think he should have been there and he should have expressed his view clearly.”