Zack Polanski's Greens branded 'anti-women' by ex-deputy leader after being 'persecuted' over gender-critical views

The former deputy leader of the Greens has described Zack Polanski's party as "anti-women" after being banned from attending their annual conference.

Speaking to GB News outside the venue in Brighton, Shahrar Ali revealed he and other gender-critical members have been "persecuted" for supporting the Supreme Court ruling on single-sex spaces.

Women's rights campaigners at the Green Women's Declaration were also banned from entering the conference over claims that their attendance would make transgender members feel "unsafe".

Addressing his block on attending the conference, Mr Ali told GB News that anyone who holds gender critical views has been "persecuted" from the event.

He said: "I'm here as somebody who's been in the party over 20 years to meet friends outside conference.

"But those of us who subscribe to the view that single-sex spaces for women and girls should be protected and safeguarded have been systematically persecuted by the party, and so I'm here to speak about that outside party conference."

Asked by GB News Political Correspondent Olivia Utley whether the party has become "anti-women", Mr Ali agreed.

He argued: "They're anti-women and any men as well who believe in the importance of single-sex protections for women and girls.

"We've got an advocacy group called Green Women's Declaration who've been barred entry into the conference as well, and I think it's very important that we fight through the courts as necessary.

"I'm going to the court a second time to expose the rot within the Green Party."

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Asked what extent the attitude towards gender-critical members is coming from Mr Polanski, the ex-deputy admitted that Green governance has "failed".

He told GB News: "If you are afraid to speak your mind in a political party, one which prides itself on free speech, you can't make good policy.

"This weekend, there's a motion coming for the second time this year, Zionism is racism, which has caused great consternation and angst both within the party and outside. And the trouble is, even the leadership can't actually discuss the implications of such a motion, which are clearly contrary to party policy.

"Zionism is not racism. In fact, Israel does have a right to exist, and that's part of the core of Green Party policy, which is a two-state solution."

Mr Ali argued that Mr Polanski has made the Greens into a "one-issue party": "What Polanski has done, unfortunately, over the last year, he's been very successful in building the party, but he's bringing into the party individuals and coalitions who are only speaking about one thing.

"And it's not the environment, it's not the climate emergency, it's Palestine and Gaza, just to the exclusion of everything else – and that's not helping our trajectory either – it's making us a single-issue party of the wrong sort."

He concluded that Mr Polanski has made the party "particularly vulnerable".

He said: "I do think that he's popular within the party. He's presided over a burgeoning membership increase, which is phenomenal. But the trouble is, one of the main planks of his leadership campaign was eco-populism, and we're not talking about eco policies.

"There's no eco in the eco-populism, there's just populism. They're left of Starmer, and they're no longer left of Burnham. So he's actually made us particularly vulnerable."