The Green Party discriminated against former deputy leader Dr Shahrar Ali during a row over his gender critical beliefs, a court has ruled.
The court found the Green Party had improperly dismissed Dr Ali as a party spokesperson because it had failed to identify any misconduct.
The Mayor’s and City County Court awarded £9,100 in damages to Dr Ali.
But the judgement upheld political parties’ right to dismiss spokespeople whose views differ from party policy.
The Green Party admitted “procedural shortfalls” in dismissing Dr Ali.
The Chair of the Green Party of England and Wales’ executive, Jon Nott, 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.”
All other allegations of discrimination and victimisation by the Green Party were dismissed.
The court ruled Dr. Ali’s removal as “procedurally unfair” because the Green Party identified no code breaches at his dismissal.
Judge Stephen Hellman said he could not rule out the possibility that this unfairness had been due Dr Ali’s gender critical beliefs.
Political parties can remove spokespeople for holding “beliefs that were inconsistent with party policy”, if done through fair procedures, the judgement found.
The Equalities Act also safeguards criticism of gender-critical and pro-trans beliefs in political discourse, the judgement found.
Source: Shahrar Ali wins ‘gender critical’ court battle against Green Party – BBC News