Jude English is a former Green Party city councillor, environmental activist and an advocate for the rights of women, lesbians and gay men. For eight years, she served her constituents with distinction, embodying the Green Party’s core values of social justice and environmental protection. Jude was also elected co-chair of Green Party Women (GPW) at the beginning of 2024. Jude now intends to bring legal action against the Green Party of England and Wales for breach of contract.
Why is this?
What Happened?
In February 2023 Jude began a series of whistleblowing complaints to the governance leaders of the party. Over 13 months she correctly used official protocols to alert the chairs of GPEX and GPRC of her concerns about local and national party matters. Jude alleged serious safeguarding failures across the organisation and persistent and critical failures in upholding the Equality Act 2010 with regard to treatment of five other members.
- Emma Bateman Co-Chair GPW – speaking out letter/acted as Mckenzie friend
- Cllr Zoe Hatch Co-Chair GPW – speaking out letter jointly reported Party to EHRC
- Alison Teal PPC for Sheffield Central Sheffield Central speaking out letters x 4
- Member Robbie Spence acted as Mackenzie friend/speaking out letter
- Sue Williams Secretary GPW speaking out letter about harassment and discrimination
Jude English made an additional complex complaint about lack of equality training of GPEx members and institutional sex discrimination following the shutdown of the Green Party Women Special Interest Group (SPIG) by GPEX. Jude alleged sex discrimination but this complaint was was dismissed without explanation or investigation by the CEO. Jude asked the GPEX Chair how to initiate a complaint against the CEO for failing to uphold equality and other laws.
Within weeks Jude had been attacked via a malicious complaint and been denied party membership by GPRC.
“This makes at least 6 ‘protected acts’ under the Equality Act 2010. These are acts where a person attempts to protect another from discrimination. Sanctioning Jude for making protected acts is legally known as victimisation.”
In her official whistleblower complaints Jude repeatedly warned the party of widespread bullying and harassment of members. She warned that some governance officers and lay members were abusing power and privilege via the complaints system and also predicted that she would be subject to a malicious attack via the complaints process. She named officers and staff.
Lets recap: In February 2023 Jude had asked the party chair and the CEO to play their part in providing a safe space for debate in the party and for their oversight and support in preventing discrimination, harassment and victimisation against her because of her sexual orientation and beliefs. Jude is a lesbian and a critical green. A critical green perspective is one that demands Green Party policies be scientifically and ecologically credible and evidence based, rooted in the precautionary principle and reasonable. A critical green perspective demands that the party upholds UK law. A lesbian critical green perceptive demands respect for diversity and inclusion in the party and respect and tolerance for all members who are same-sex attracted. A lesbian critical green perspective demands that the Green Party upholds the law in this regard.
What went wrong?
The party chair, CEO and GPEX failed to prevent discrimination and victimisation by the GPRC co-chairs, and appear to have assisted GPRC in their actions.
The vexatious complaint and political assassination
On March 13, 2024, just days before the start of the 2024 local election campaign, the Green Party Regional Council co-chairs abused their power and privilege to impose a “no-fault suspension” on Cllr. Jude English. This suspension deliberately
- Prevented her from standing for re-election in May 2024, losing a job she loved Barred her from representing the party or contacting other Green Party members
- Caused emotional and physical distress
- Caused reputational harm to Jude as a cllr and citizen
- Has continued without ANY investigation or hearing for months.
The grounds for Jude’s suspension were that her actions allegedly brought the Party into ‘disrepute’. The party’s own legal advice makes clear that nothing Jude did or said is disreputable or unlawful. The content and handling of the complaint itself is a textbook legal example of harassment, victimisation and discrimination.
What was Jude accused of and by whom?
1. Jude appeared on a webinar with a well-known barrister to discuss women’s rights and the current UK legal position on belief discrimination.
2. The complaint against her asserted, without evidence, that expressing gender critical views is inherently ‘queerphobic’. The queerphobia guidance quoted has been criticised as unlawful by a leading law practice. Jude is a lesbian.
3. The Green Party Regional Council (GPRC) accepted this anonymous complaint without adequate scrutiny or evidence of actual discrimination. It accepted the complainant’s view without investigating the complainant’s motives. It’s clear to Jude that the complainant is a member of the Disciplinary Committee.
The complaint was clearly an act of malicious attack and demanded that Jude be openly punished for the expression of her lesbian critical green perspective.
The punishment required by the complainant was that Jude be actively and deliberately prevented from being re-elected as local city councillor. In effect, she was sacked from her job. He openly demanded that she should be ‘made an example of’ and that she ‘must be punished’ for her position on political free speech and freedom of association.
Why will legal action(s) against the party be important?
1. Freedom of Expression: The handling of Jude’s case raises serious concerns about freedom of expression within the Green Party.
2. Discrimination: The actions taken against Jude constitute discrimination based on her protected philosophical beliefs under the Equality Act 2010 and her protected characteristic of being a lesbian.
3. Abuse of power and process: There are numerous concerns that unscrutinised ad hoc disciplinary procedures are being created and weaponised to shut down legitimate policy debates and to bypass democratic processes within the party. A heresy hunt is clearly in progress.
4. Wider Implications: Jude’s case is not isolated. At least 20 Green Party members are currently subject to no-fault suspensions and / or expulsion simply for expressing gender-critical views and / or for demanding scrutiny of GPRC decisions.
Those ‘exiles‘ treated unlawfully will seek to bring multi litigant action for breach of contract. This risks a substantial level of damages against the party and legal costs.
Legal and Ethical Concerns
1. The Free Speech Union’s legal team has already written to the party chair, CEO and GPEX to point out GPRC’s decision making appears irrational and unlawful and fails to grasp the underlying issues.
2. The suspension seems to imply that women meeting to discuss their rights is inherently disreputable, a stance at odds with liberal democratic values and against the law.
3. There is evidence of a disparity in how the Green Party handles different types of ‘controversial’ speech or actions by its members.
4. The suspension violates Jude’s “fundamental party rights” as described in recent legal precedents (e.g., Shahrar Ali v GPEW (Reason and Nott 2023) and Natalie Bird vs Liberal Party (Pack and Rouse 2024)
What legal action(s) will help to do
- To challenge unfair discrimination (particularly against women) within all political parties and make them uphold the Equality Act 2010
- To defend the legal right to express gender-critical views without fear of reprisal
- To ensure fair and transparent processes within all political organisations
- To uphold the principles of free speech and open debate within all political parties
Editor’s note:
Jude English was the fourth Co chair of Green Party Women to be subjected to the Green Party disciplinary process. There are five in total so far.
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