Havant Liberal Democrat's statement on the ending of the Alliance running Havant Borough Council

Havant Liberal Democrats are proud to have worked with our coalition partners, the Labour Party and the Green Party, over the last two and a half years to drive positive change in Havant. Locally we share the same ambitions for our borough and agree on the solutions to its problems. We are frustrated that this work has ended because of a motion passed at the Green Party Conference which none of the local Green Party councillors supported.

We are not neutral on the motion, we believe it is divisive, irresponsible and deeply insensitive. Ed Davey has ruled out any national partnership with a party committed to it but left it to local parties to decide whether to continue collaboration. The Green Party's own senior figures have condemned the motion very clearly: Zack Polanski has called the motion imperfect, former co-leader Adrian Ramsay said he was deeply uncomfortable with it, and former leader Caroline Lucas said support for a motion that effectively denies Israel the right to exist crosses a very significant red line. So, when the Havant Greens were asked to distance themselves from it, they were not being asked to abandon a principle. They were being asked to say publicly what they already say privately, to reassure residents who were alarmed by it. That is not a great sacrifice.

We dislike how the Labour Party managed this. A national party should not dictate how local groups work together. Local councillors are elected to exercise judgement, not to follow instructions. But an intemperate demand does not make the answer wrong. Labour's ultimatum was heavy-handed; the Greens' response was to defend a position they privately reject. Being asked in an unreasonable way to do the right thing does not entitle anyone to refuse to do the right thing.

Ask what the collapse of this administration achieves. Not one life is saved. Not one service is improved. The motion is not undone, the hurt it caused is not repaired, and the only measurable outcome is that parties lose the influence they have used to shape this borough for the better, while residents lose an effective council.

We will not walk away from residents while there is still work to be done. We call on our partners to pause, set the ultimatums aside and reopen talks, on the basis that each group may hold its own view on national questions while the council holds to the plan we all agreed.

Compromise is not weakness. It is the everyday work of local government, and it is what residents are entitled to expect from the people they elected to run their services.