Sian Berry quits Green Party leadership race in trans rights row

Sian Berry has quit the race to be the new Green Party leader in a row over trans rights and appointments to key party positions.

The current co-leader announced she would not fight to head the party outright in the autumn – following the resignation of Jonathan Bartley – laying bare an internal conflict.

Ms Berry warned she could “no longer make the claim” that the Green Party fully backed trans rights, following “the party’s choice of front bench representatives”.

“In the coming elections for new members of the party executive and leadership, we must all ask ourselves important questions about the values our party upholds at this pivotal moment,” she told members in a letter.

“Will we continue to embrace the principles of listening and solidarity when minority groups are singled out for attack?”

Ms Berry was not explicit about the appointment she opposed, but there has been criticism of the choice of Shahrar Ali to the policing and domestic safety brief.

He has faced allegations of transphobia from some party members, accused of adopting a definition of women that is trans exclusionary.

Mr Ali has strongly rejected the criticism, saying recently: “I have fought for the human rights of the marginalised and voiceless in our society for decades, and will continue to do so, for the LGBTIQA+, disabled and ethnic minority communities and for the rights of women and children, too.”

Amid the row, the Green Party said all the newly selected spokespeople – including Mr Ali – had signed a code of conduct committing them to “fairness, tolerance, equality, diversity and inclusiveness”.

Ms Berry, a London Assembly member, said: “I have been considering my position as co-leader since the decision was made to announce our new front bench spokespeople.

“And, though I will stay on as acting leader through the leadership by-election, I am writing today to say that I have decided not to stand as a candidate in that by-election.”

The 47-year-old said she was “proud of the progress” the party had made in recent years, after the Greens racked up gains at the local elections in May.

But she could “no longer make the claim that the party speaks unequivocally, with one voice” on the issue of “trans rights and inclusion”.

“I must stand by our policies and my pledges made to Londoners in the recent election, and there is now an inconsistency between the sincere promise to fight for trans rights and inclusion in my work and the message sent by the party’s choice of front bench representatives,” Ms Berry wrote.

She added: “My conscience simply cannot agree with the argument that there is anything positive in sending these mixed messages, especially when the inclusive attitudes of our membership and wider society are clear.

“Failing to win the confidence of a majority of my colleagues to reflect these is also a failure of leadership.”