Green Party member Liz Spencer has warned that her party welcomed less than nice people after abandoning its environmental roots in Bolton.
All four Green Party councillors on Bolton Council have now threatened to resign following severe allegations of racism and an internal feud between veteran members and newer representatives.
Ms Spencer is the mother of newly elected Green Party Member of Parliament Hannah Spencer. Speaking about the current state of the political organization, she claimed that shunning traditional ecological priorities had damaged the internal culture.
She told the Manchester Mill: "It's not what the Green Party used to be; nice people who wore hemp shoes. That opened the door for lots of less-than-nice people to enter. And no one was primed for it."
Ms Spencer originally joined the organization when it operated under the name of the Ecology Party. She previously stood as an unsuccessful candidate for the Greens in the Bolton North East parliamentary constituency during the 2017 and 2019 general elections.
She warned that a growing rift inside the Bolton branch has turned the party into a "laughing stock" in local politics. The division pits traditional environmental campaigners against four recently elected local representatives.
Ms Spencer said: "The Green Party has a set of values; environmental stuff that leads onto social justice stuff", adding that "now, we are a laughing stock in local politics." She further described the internal climate by stating that "the atmosphere of paranoia is huge" and that "nobody trusts anybody."
Following her public comments to the Manchester Mill, which first reported her statements, Ms Spencer acknowledged that the local party would now likely expel her from its membership.
New councillors and racism allegations
The friction comes after the Greens expanded their representation on Bolton Council during this year's local elections. Three new councillors, Baggy Khan, Zan Arif, and Ismail Ibrahim, won seats on the local authority.
The trio joined Hanif Alli, the leader of the Green Party group on Bolton Council, who was first elected to office in 2024. However, the rapid expansion triggered an internal backlash from older members who questioned the newcomers' commitment to core policies.
Helena Carman, who stood as a Green candidate in the May local elections, publicly challenged the credentials of the group leader. She said: "I will stand on rooftops and shout 'that man is not Green!'" She added: "He walks around as if he is, but he is truly not."
In response to the criticism, all four Green councillors on Bolton Council have threatened to step down from the party over alleged racism from long-standing members. Mr Alli claimed that a core white group had engaged in coordinated hostility, press leaks, and orchestrated abuse.
Branding the traditional members as racists, Mr Alli stated: "In all my years of being involved in politics, I have never seen such well organised/coordinated en masse racism by a group of people who are in my opinion drunk on a short taste of political power and in their quest to rid the [Bolton Green Party] of any people of colour or tarnish them at any cost to the Green Party and its values."
Political rivals react to party infighting
Political opponents quickly seized on the public dispute inside the local branch. A Conservative Party source endorsed Ms Spencer's comments, pointing to national leadership as the source of the friction.
The Conservative source said: "Hannah Spencer's mum is right. Under Zack Polanski's leadership the Green Party have turned in on themselves and are now turning on each other. It just shows how unserious they are about the big issues facing the country."
Further criticism came from Darren Johnson, a former Green Party councillor and London Assembly member who defected to the Labour Party this year. He argued that recent strategy shifts had harmed the party.
Mr Johnson told the Mail: "While I think the Green Party's membership did need to become more diverse, beyond the old hemp-wearing hippies, by re-inventing themselves as a hard-left populist party they've completely lost sight of their values and allowed some rather unpleasant people to join who have no real interest in the Green agenda."
A Labour Party spokesperson also condemned the internal collapse, arguing that local voters require stable administration across Greater Manchester.
The Labour spokesperson said: "While the Greens are busy fighting among themselves, Labour is focused on delivering for people across Greater Manchester. This extraordinary infighting shows what happens when a protest party is suddenly expected to take responsibility."
The spokesperson added: "The Greens can barely manage their own party without descending into chaos, voters will rightly ask how they could ever be trusted to run vital local services. People deserve serious, competent leadership focused on their priorities, not a Green Party consumed by internal rows and dysfunction."
When asked about the situation in Bolton, a spokesperson for the Green Party declined to address the specific allegations directly. The spokesperson said: "We do not comment on internal matters. We are continuing to support our councillors and members in Bolton."
