Zoe joined the Green Party in 2015 and quickly made an impact by growing the Local Party as Membership Officer. During her time in the Party, she also served as General Election Agent, Local Party Chair and 2019 General Election Candidate. She served as Parish Councillor in Burnham and Taplow and was also the target candidate for the Chiltern Green Party, narrowly missing out on a seat on Bucks Council Unitary Authority in 2021. She was predicted to win in 2025 and become only the second Green Councillor in Buckinghamshire. Zoe also served the National Party as Internal Communications Officer on GPEx. She was widely acknowledged as a passionate and likeable campaigner who worked hard across political boundaries to effect meaningful change.
In 2023 Zoe was elected as Co-Chair of Green Party Women (GPW). As a lifelong environmentalist and feminist, she was honoured to serve the party as she believed it represented her values. Values she held dear.
No fault suspension
In October 2023 Zoe received notification that the co-chairs of GPRC voted to issue her with a so-called ‘No-Fault Suspension’ for an email she sent to Green Party Women on the 13th October titled Green Party Women under attack.
These individuals were the ‘on call’ members of GPRC who were supposed to protect the party from the most egregious threats to its reputation. Her alleged offence was to send an email talking about how Green Party Women were being attacked and discriminated against. The attack on Green Party Women had been ongoing for some years and was now more obvious than ever before. Zoe was clear that it was the fervent behaviour of the zealots within the party, intent on silencing women, were the ones which was the party into disrepute.
At the time Zoe was suspended she had been leading a GPW investigation into discrimination against women. She had compiled a dossier of evidence for the EHRC detailing discrimination and detriment towards women on the basis of their Sex and their Gender Critical (GC) views. Being put on No Fault Suspension had the intention of denying her access to any of the benefits of party membership and consequently cutting dead the project she was pioneering.
Unlawful behaviour
Members of GPRC had clearly gone rogue and were acting unlawfully. Instead of looking after the wellbeing of the party, as they are tasked to do, they instead directly flouted the legal advice given to them by their solicitors. This advice clearly defines the offence of victimisation as sanctioning or treating someone badly who has whistleblown regarding discrimination. According to the Equality Act 2010 this is against the law. You can read the full legal advice from Bates Wells solicitors here.
GPRC want to bring down Green Party Women
It has been clear for some time that GPRC are keen to close down Green Party Women. In April and June 2023 GPRC held two emergency meetings to try to have the GC members of GPRC expelled from the party.
Finally, they got their chance and disaffiliated GPW immediately after Zoe was suspended, on a dubious excuse that GPW had failed to run its planned Autumn 2021 committee election until January 2022. This came even though it was a Chair of GPRC who had directed that the election be re-run and caused the resultant delay.
Expulsion
In March 2024 Zoe received notification that the party had expelled her. At no time was she able to speak to any member of the party to present a rebuttal of the allegations made against her. Although her case was referred to an external investigator, the report never saw the light of day and the investigation was terminated ‘without reason’.
Both before and after her suspension, Zoe made multiple attempts to draw the attention of the Party hierarchy to problems surrounding the expression of gender critical beliefs within GPEW, including two whistleblowing complaints dating as far back as January 2023. Zoe was also a key witness in the successful discrimination case brought against the party by Shahrar Ali.
It is not hard to conclude that these matters were related and that Zoe has herself been subject to a campaign of institutional bullying, harassment and victimisation.
Editor’s note:
Zoe Hatch was the third 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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