{"id":43272,"date":"2025-10-31T14:57:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T14:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/?p=43272"},"modified":"2025-11-13T18:05:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:05:56","slug":"bristol-green-party-welcomes-ex-labour-councillor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/2025\/10\/31\/bristol-green-party-welcomes-ex-labour-councillor\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol Green Party welcomes ex-Labour councillor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"548\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cllr-Al-Maghrabi-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cllr-Al-Maghrabi-1.jpg 960w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cllr-Al-Maghrabi-1-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cllr-Al-Maghrabi-1-700x400.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cllr-Al-Maghrabi-1-768x438.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cllr-Al-Maghrabi-1-736x420.jpg 736w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cllr-Al-Maghrabi-1-640x365.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cllr-Al-Maghrabi-1-681x389.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Councillor Alsayed Al-Maghrabi (Picture: Bristol City Council)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bristol Labour councillor who defected to the Greens this week said his former party&#8217;s decision no longer align with their values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alsayed Al-Maghrabi said that Labour&#8217;s accountability &#8220;represents a betrayal of principles the party was founded on,\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added that values such as \u201cfairness, compassion and social justice\u201d gave people hope and compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He emphasised his withdrawal is no reflection of his local Labour colleagues, who continue their hard work for communities around Bristol. And his commitment to the residents of Frome Vale will continue as normal, as he strives to improve the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alsayed referred to the importance of accountability and principle, which comes with what he says is Labour&#8217;s refusal to recognise the concept of wealth tax, which could be seen as \u201can attack on the working class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He claims that the Labour Party has made significant steps that \u201cundermine the fundamental rights to peaceful protest and free speech.\u201d This comes following their decision to ban Palestine Action, which he says &#8220;despite countless examples of historic direct-action groups.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Welcome <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlsayedPolitico?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AlsayedPolitico<\/a> to the Green Party and our growing movement for a fairer society, an economy that works for everyone, &amp; a safe future for our children<br><br>I look forward to working with you to make the lives of all Bristolians better and for a fairer future for everyone <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VupbGPN1nT\">https:\/\/t.co\/VupbGPN1nT<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Carla Denyer (@carla_denyer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/carla_denyer\/status\/1983853067318550539?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 30, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carla Denyer, Green MP for Bristol Central expressed she was pleased to welcome Alsayed to the Green Party. She said the \u201cgrowing movement\u201d of the Party\u2019s popularity towards \u201ca fair society, an economy that works for everyone, and a safer future for our children.\u201d With hope to \u201cimprove the lives of all Bristolian\u2019s and to fight for a fairer future to us all\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This news comes as Green Party popularity surges, as its members in Bristol alone have soared to over 4500, and nationally to 150,000 following the introduction of the new leader Zack Polanski to the Party in September. The Green Party now has 34 councillors at Bristol City Council, meaning they are one councillor away from holding a majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udc9a Delighted to welcome our new councillor in Bristol!<br><br>\ud83e\udd40 Alsayed is one of 20 councillors to leave Labour &amp; join the Greens this year.<br><br>\ud83c\udfa4 \u201cI will never stop standing up for equality, justice &amp; the right to speak truth to power.&quot;<br><br>Huge welcome, Alsayed!<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lYcpX069Lv\">https:\/\/t.co\/lYcpX069Lv<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZackPolanski\/status\/1983847384447906003?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 30, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This comes ahead of Zack&#8217;s visit to Bristol on Monday where a Q&amp;A will take place with Carla Denyer at St George&#8217;s. Tickets for the event sold out in less than four hours, highlighting faith in Bristol&#8217;s Green Party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bristol Labour councillor who defected to the Greens this week said his former party&#8217;s decision no longer align with their values. Alsayed Al-Maghrabi said that Labour&#8217;s accountability &#8220;represents a betrayal of principles the party was founded on,\u201d He added that values such as \u201cfairness, compassion and social justice\u201d gave people hope and compassion. He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":330,"featured_media":43298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1620],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/330"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43272"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43501,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43272\/revisions\/43501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}