Sabine Mairey, a Green Party council candidate in Lambeth, south London, was seen canvassing in Clapham on Sunday, days after her arrest on Thursday over alleged antisemitic social media posts. The incident has drawn criticism from Labour, which accused the party of failing to take the issue seriously.
The Metropolitan Police arrested Mairey and another Green candidate, Saiqa Ali, on Thursday. While the Greens declined to comment due to the police inquiry, it is understood that Mairey is under investigation and likely to be suspended, while Ali has already been suspended. Party rules state that candidates under suspension or investigation should not campaign.
Labour's Steve Reed, the housing and communities secretary, condemned the party's response, saying: "The Green party is rotting from the head down. Shame on Polanski's moral cowardice." Green officials, however, attribute the delay to the party's highly decentralised structure, which gives local parties significant autonomy.
Zack Polanski, the leader of the Greens in England and Wales, who is Jewish, told the BBC that the comments "disgust me" and emphasised the importance of the disciplinary process. He rejected claims that antisemitism is particularly prevalent in the Greens, stating: "I don't believe we have a particular problem compared with wider society."
