The Green Party of England and Wales have been ordered to pay £90,000 to cover the costs of their former deputy leader, Shahrar Ali, who won a discrimination case against them. In February, a court ruled that the Greens had unlawfully discriminated against Ali during a row over his gender-critical beliefs and awarded him £9,100 in damages. Today’s ruling raises questions about the party’s financial stability after auditors had already warned that the case had left “uncertainty” about the party’s ability to operate normally.
The full cost of legal proceedings has not been revealed by the Green Party, but their latest full accounts indicate that £280,000 was set aside for potential legal bills. The party removed Ali as its spokesman for policing and domestic safety in February 2022 for breaching the party’s Spokespeople Code of Conduct. The court ruled Ali’s removal as “procedurally unfair” because the Green Party identified no code breaches at his dismissal.
Judge Stephen Hellman said he could not rule out the possibility that this unfairness had been due to Ali’s gender-critical beliefs. However, the judgement found that political parties can remove spokespeople for holding “beliefs that were inconsistent with party policy”, if done through fair procedures. Judge Hellman ruled that the Greens must cover 60% of Ali’s costs – with £72,000 due to his legal team within 28 days and the remainder to follow a cost review.
Several other Green Party activists, who hold similar views to Ali, are planning legal action against the party off the back of Ali’s case, according to BBC sources. The financial strain on the party of facing multiple cases is also likely to impede its finances. The party had an £80,000 cash shortfall when entering an election year, and they subsequently increased membership fees from £3.33 to £5 a month last September. However, the party’s finances have improved to the point that it had a £95,000 cash surplus in April.
Ali believes that Green Party leaders “are in total denial about the significance of this landmark case and its implications for party governance”. He added that they cannot be in denial about the expense of breaking the law or the risk of bankruptcy in continuing to fall afoul of it. Despite the ruling, a spokesperson for the Green Party said they were “pleased the case is at an end” and that its outcome will have no detrimental impact on their work in the future
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