Motion #08
Jessica Goldfinch, Siobhan Scanlan, Anne Johnson, Pallavi Devulapalli*
SOC Note: the following amendments were found by SOC to be Out of Order for being trivial, since they amount to minor textual amendments which SOC can achieve by itself and have made accordingly to the motion text
Amendment OoO1:
Correct the punctuation of the paragraph above by moving the comma from after the word ‘time’, to after the word, ‘invite.
New text to read:
xviii) The Chair, and other Executive members that the Council may from time to time invite, shall attend every meeting of the Council to report on the work of the Party Executive, without prejudice to Clause 6 (xiii).
Amendment OoO2:
In the paragraph above, make it grammatically correct by deleting the superfluous gap between the word ‘Committee and the comma.
New Text reads:
Amend Clause 20 Equalities and Diversity Committee, to make consistent the relationship with GPEx in light of the changes made to GPEx above, so it reads:
Jessica Goldfinch*, Anne Johnson, Debra Cooper, Linda Oubridge
SOC Note: the following amendments were found by SOC to be Out of Order both for being vague, since as proposed by Anne Baker et al they did not suggest a form of words or replacement text, and for being trivial, since a glossary is proposed by Jessica Goldfinch et al in any event in a separate amendment.
Amendment OoO1:
Add a definition of “harm” in 2.2 to a glossary to this document
Amendment OoO2:
Add a definition of “duty” in 2.5 to a glossary to this document
Amendment OoO3:
Add a definition of “safe” in 2.5 to a glossary to this document
Amendment OoO4:
Add the definitions of “bully” and “harass” from the appropriate document in Appendix A to a glossary of this document.
Amendment OoO5:
Add a definition of “disrespect” in 3.6 to a glossary to this document.
Amendment OoO6:
Add definitions of “bringing the party into disrepute” and “public office” in 3.7 to a glossary to this document.
Amendment OoO7:
Add definitions of “safe”, “tolerant”, “considerate”, ”respectful” and “civil” in 3.9 to a glossary to this document
Amendment OoO8:
Add a definition of “campaign” in 3.12 to a glossary to this document.
Amendment OoO9:
Add a definition of “improperly” in 3.15 to a glossary to this document.
Amendment OoO10:
Add a definition of “take advantage of” to a glossary of this document so that it now reads:
Amendment OoO11a-t:
Anne Baker, Alex Geddis, Marcus Grant, Cee Alexander*
The authors of the motion are instructed to create a glossary of the following words or terms: ‘unlawfully discriminate’; ‘protected characteristic’; ‘bully’; ‘harass’; ‘lie’ (‘does it include hyperbole, omission of facts, obfuscation, misleading in error?’); ‘insult’; ‘act disrespectfully’; ‘wrongdoing’; ‘disrepute’ (‘and give a range of examples of conduct so described’); ‘undermine’; ‘contradict’ (‘and give a range of examples’); ‘safe’; ‘tolerant’; ‘positions of responsibility’; ‘outline proper selection and deselection processes’; ‘campaign’; ‘agent’; ‘respect’; ‘properly authorised’; ‘exemplars of improper and proper disruption’; ‘exemplars of ways abuses could occur’; ‘all procedures that can impose confidentiality and when members may waive it’; ‘what other forms of judgement may be made’; ‘conflict of interest’; ‘agents of the party’; ‘position of responsibility’; ‘duty of care’; ‘harm’s way’; ‘negligence’; ‘internal office holders’; ‘official capacity’; exemplars of when staff might be consulted over the members’ Code of Conduct, to explain how staff might be ‘relevant’; and ‘include in the glossary a list of party bodies with the appropriate competent authority’.
SOC Note: the following amendments were found to be Out of Order for being vague, since the motion is published as part of the outcomes of Conference and there is no proposed timescale or mechanism for any communication
Amendment OoO12:
Replace “1.3 This Members’ Code of Conduct is effective from the moment of its adoption” with “1.3 This Members’ Code of Conduct is effective following its adoption from the moment it is emailed to the party membership”.
Amendment OoO13:
Replace “Subject to a majority Conference vote in favour of the report, any revision shall take immediate effect” with “Subject to a majority Conference vote in favour of the report, any revision shall take immediate effect upon being emailed to the membership”.
Amendment OoO14:
Anne Baker, Alex Geddis, Marcus Grant, Cee Alexander*
delete the words, ‘the moment of its adoption.’
insert the words, ‘once Party members have been informed of the change by email.’
Amendment OoO15:
Anne Baker, Alex Geddis, Marcus Grant, Cee Alexander*
In the final sentence, delete the word, ‘immediate’.
Insert after ‘effect’ the words, ‘after the whole membership have been notified of the change by email.’, so that it reads,
‘Subject to a majority Conference vote in favour of the report, any revision shall take effect after the whole membership have been notified of the change by email.’
SOC Note: the following amendments were found to be Out of Order for being trivial
Amendment OoO16:
Anne Baker, Alex Geddis, Marcus Grant, Cee Alexander*
Delete the word ‘unfounded’. It is superfluous.
Andree Frieze, Elise Benjamin, Mark Strong, Jake Sharpstone, Robert Davis*
SOC Note: the following amendment was found to be Out of Order for tending to negate the original motion
Delete the body of the text and replace with:
The Green Party already has very clear policy statements on Israel and Palestine, specifically IP600-641, as outlined in the International section on its policy website. We reaffirm these policies.
The Green Party made a clear policy statement on BDS made at conference in 2014 as part of its statement on Israel’s Ground Invasion. It states: “Supporting these calls by active participation in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. This campaign aims to put pressure on the government of Israel to end the Occupation and to give equal rights to Palestinians. The campaign asks individuals, organisations, councils and governments to refuse to deal with companies and institutions identified as facilitating Israel’s military capacity, human rights abuses or illegal settlement activity.” We reaffirm this position.
We reaffirm our support for the statement on Israel and Palestine in the manifesto for the 2024 General Election, on which our candidates stood and will be used by our four Green MPs to direct their Parliamentary work.
The Green Party also commits to supporting campaign groups working for a just peace in Israel-Palestine, such as Standing Together, a peace and social justice campaign run by Israeli Palestinians and Israeli Jews.
Since the 2024 General Election has now taken place, it is now possible to discuss openly governance failings within the Green Party without prejudicing the Party’s chances in that election.
This Conference notes, deplores and is appalled by the on-going campaign of mass suspensions and expulsions from the Party carried out by a majority of members of GPRC against members, many of whom are of long-standing and distinguished service within the Party, who have supported women’s sex-based rights, and/or opposed the medical abuse of children and young people as exposed by the Cass Report, and/or even sought to discuss these issues or allowed others to discuss these issues, or have supported other members who have been victims of this mass suspension and expulsion campaign.
This campaign has substantially intensified during the past year and escalated further beyond the deadline for motions for this Autumn Conference, and has included:
the removal by GPEx of former Deputy Party Leader Shahrar Ali from his position as a Party Spokesperson (which the Court subsequently found to have been an act of unlawful discrimination and in breach of the Equality Act);
the suspension for 19 months without any hearing or due process of Alison Teal, the Party’s duly selected Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Sheffield Central (a much respected local Green Party councillor of 6 years standing who led the campaign against mass tree-felling in Sheffield), and her last minute replacement as candidate without due process of de-selection as required by the Party Constitution, which led her to resign from the Party and stand as an independent;
the repeated suspensions and attempted expulsions of Emma Bateman, an elected co-chair of Green Party Women (expelled three times and reinstated twice on appeal so far, with a further appeal still pending); and the serial suspensions and expulsions of successive other elected co-chairs of Green Party Women (GPW), Dawn Furness, Zoe Hatch, and Jude English;
the suspension of the co-chairs of Green Party Seniors, Nicola Watson and Freda Davis (the latter herself a former long-standing member and co-chair of GPRC), and of Green Party Seniors membership secretary Eric Walker (all of which occurred on the day of the Green Party Seniors AGM, thus preventing them standing for re-election to their positions);
the “no fault” suspensions (NFS) of elected SOC member Sarah Bingham without subsequent due process (since reinstated but prevented from carrying out her SOC role for months, and unable to stand or campaign in the General Election); of Lucy Watson, previous member of GPW Committee, for debating issues regarding safeguarding on internal Green Spaces; of Imogen Makepeace, for querying procedure within Disciplinary Committee of which she was an elected member (subsequently resigned); and of Darren Johnson, previous Principal Spokesperson and London Assembly member, for allegedly “Engaging in a pattern of behaviour which is likely to bring the Party into disrepute”;
the successive suspensions and expulsion of Robbie Spence, who was reinstated after a No Fault Suspension lasting 26 months was set aside, was elected to Policy Development Committee and then placed on a further NFS, which has since also been lifted, but is now expelled by GPRC without a hearing and is awaiting an appeal;
the expulsion of Peter Garbutt and Rachel Hardy for allegedly supporting Alison Teal, once again without due process; together with Sara Mai, Sue Williams, (GPW Secretary 2023 & 2024), and several others, all for allegedly supporting Alison Teal, who was the properly selected candidate, and all of whom were expelled and forfeited membership for 5 years;
the expulsion of Nathan Williams, for writing a journalism piece reporting some of the above facts;
the summary expulsions (without investigation or hearing) of Mandy Vere and Hazel Pegg for co-hosting a Green Women’s Declaration webinar, which the complainant assumed meant they were on an Executive, for which both were expelled and forfeited membership for 5 years;
The summary expulsion of Amanda Stones, a further Green Party Women committee member, for reasons as yet unclear;
as well as numerous other expulsions, suspensions and so-called “no fault suspensions” amounting to a widespread process of bullying and intimidation. No fault suspensions, which are a temporary measure for use only in exceptional circumstances, have been routinely misused to impose suspensions as an effective punishment with no investigation or hearing, and have not been periodically reviewed as required by the disciplinary rules. The total number of such expulsions and suspensions is unknown due to the secrecy which surrounds disciplinary matters within the Party on purported grounds of “confidentiality”, and the fact that neither GPRC nor Disciplinary Committee have published minutes of their meetings during the past year.
Conference notes that this campaign is without precedent in the Party’s over 50-year history, has involved frequent and systematic breaches of the Party’s Constitution, rules and established practices and a complete disregard of the norms of natural justice, and that GPRC has now unilaterally and in breach of the Party Constitution usurped the role of Disciplinary Committee in the disciplinary process altogether. It has been conducted by GPRC, without regard to legal advice which it viewed as “unhelpful” and has not shared with other governance bodies, but with the active collusion of members of SOC (two of whom are currently also members of GPRC) and of Disciplinary Committee (which has itself been non-functional for several months and has excluded some of its elected members from taking any part in its deliberations). We note that the judgement in the Shahrar Ali case has resulted in the Party having to pay damages of £9,100 plus a further amount of costs still to be determined at a hearing in September, and that the on-going campaign by GPRC has opened the Party to further legal action likely to result in similar legal consequences.
This Conference therefore concludes that a majority of the present membership of GPRC have acted in ways which are both contrary to the Constitution of the Green Party and potentially unlawful in view of the Shahrar Ali case and other recent legal precedents, and therefore, being the only body within the Party capable of doing so, instructs all the present members of GPRC to stand down forthwith so that fresh elections may be held for those positions.
This Conference also instructs the Party that all suspended and expelled former members listed above and any others subject to decisions made while under the current co-chairship of GPRC, except those (if any) who experienced disciplinary action because they were convicted of a criminal offence, have their bans on re-joining the party revoked and their memberships reinstated immediately via a general amnesty, and that all no fault suspensions currently in force shall be set aside pending full due process of investigations and hearings. We also call for an investigation by an outside body into the frequently expressed charges by members of dysfunction, corruption and discrimination of the complaints and disciplinary system.
Proposed by Brig Oubridge, Salisbury Green Party
Last updated on 2024-09-08 at 15:20