Former deputy leader of Greens wins his ‘gender-critical’ court battle against party

THE Green Party has been found to have discriminated against its former deputy leader over his gender-critical beliefs.

A court ruled the party had improperly dismissed Dr Shahrar Ali – who believes “biology is real and immutable” – as party spokesman because it failed to identify any misconduct. The Mayor’s and City County Court awarded Dr Ali £9,100 in damages.

However, the judgment upheld the right of political parties to dismiss spokesmen whose views differ from party policy. Dr Ali’s was the first legal action of its kind against a political party.

Speaking outside the court, he called for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate the Green Party over how it handles trans rights debates.

“The current Green Party of England and Wales is out of control,” he said.

“Parties are not beyond the law when it comes to seeking to discipline their representatives in accordance with their own rules for alleged misconduct.”

The Green Party admitted “procedural shortfalls” in dismissing him. Jon Nott, the chairman of the Green Party of England and Wales’ executive, said: “We are pleased that the court has recognised that a democratic political party has the right to select those who speak for it on the basis that they can and will communicate and support party policy publicly.”

‘Parties are not beyond the law when it comes to seeking to discipline their members’

The court dismissed other allegations of discrimination and victimisation by the party.

The party removed Dr Ali as spokesman for policing and domestic safety in February 2022 for breaching the party’s “spokespeople code of conduct”.

In papers submitted to the court, lawyers acting for Dr Ali claimed Green Party officials “collaborated” to remove him from his post because of his beliefs about gender, which include the view that “biology is real and immutable”.

The court ruled Dr Ali’s dismissal was “procedurally unfair” because the party had not identified any code breaches.

Judge Hellman said he could not rule out the possibility that this unfairness had been because of Dr Ali’s gender-critical beliefs. Parties can remove spokesmen for holding beliefs “inconsistent with party policy”, if done through fair procedures.

Speaking outside the court, Dr Ali called for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate the Green Party over how it handles trans rights debates. He also said an independent inquiry “into the hostile environment in political parties across the Left” should be set up.

NHS England has ended its LGBT diversity programme over a “lack of funding”, according to the LGBT Foundation charity that had been leading the scheme. Since 2021, the NHS Rainbow Badge scheme had assessed how hospitals treat LGBT patients by rating them as either gold, silver or bronze.

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