The Green Party has sparked anger after producing an "Orwellian" glossary banning so-called "unacceptable" everyday words - including "mothers and fathers", "elderly", and "female politician" - ahead of its annual conference this weekend.
Under strict new "Inclusive Terminology Guidance", activists and party members are instructed to purge a wide range of common terms from their vocabulary to avoid creating "unwelcoming or exclusionary" environments. The document warns that failing to use the sanctioned wordbook could be treated as a breach of the party's official code of conduct on bullying and harassment.
Terms to be replaced
Among the everyday phrases discouraged by the party leadership are "mothers and fathers," which would be replaced with "parents and carers," "able-bodied" and "sex change". The guidance explicitly demands that "gendered job titles" be ditched in favour of "gender-neutral terms wherever possible."
Under the directives, members are told to use "chair" instead of "chairman" and "police officer" instead of "policeman".
Race terminology rules
The party's new rules also dictate the terminology members use when discussing race. The guidance heavily promotes the term "global majority", defining it as an "umbrella term for people of Black, Asian, Brown, Indigenous and Latin American heritage," according to The Spectator's political correspondent, Noa Hoffman.
Ms Hoffman said words including "able-bodied", "sex-change", "homosexual", "a nutter", "youngster" and "sexual preference" were also discouraged. According to the Green Party document, the term "reflects the fact that these groups make up the majority of the world's population, but are often minoritised in countries such as the UK."
While the word "Brown" itself should be "used with caution", the phrase "racially minoritised" is strongly encouraged because it "emphasises that minority status is created by social and power structures, rather than being inherent."
Handling mistakes
The guidance cautions party members that using unapproved vocabulary risks creating environments that "feel unwelcoming or exclusionary", potentially spilling into bullying or harassment allegations. Despite the strict framework, party bosses insist their preferred vocabulary merely "reflects common usage in the UK".
A dedicated section of the document outlines what activists should do if they accidentally commit a linguistic slip-up. Reassuring members who might struggle to navigate the complex new lexicon, the rulebook notes that "it's okay to make mistakes from time to time" - provided individuals are actively trying to comply.
Anyone caught making a linguistic transgression is advised to immediately apologise, thank the person who pointed out the error, and "adjust your language moving forward".
