Green Party says taser removal dropped from motion, drug legalisation still proposed
Green Party says a motion to legalise drugs is only a member proposal, not party policy, and the taser removal element was dropped.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
The Green Party has clarified that a proposal to legalise drugs is not party policy, after a report suggested members were considering removing tasers and pepper spray from police officers.
Speaking on GB News, Eugene McCarthy, chairman of the London Green Party, said the motion was one of many submitted by members and had not been voted on. He confirmed that a suggestion to remove tasers had been taken out of the motion in an earlier draft, describing it as "a bit silly".
"It's not a Green Party policy," McCarthy said. "We have a system in the Green Party where any member can propose a motion. And if enough other members vote that they want to see it debated, then we debate it. And if the membership decides to vote it through, then it becomes our party's policy. We have not taken any vote on this."
The original report, aired on GB News Tonight, claimed that Green Party members were considering a wide-ranging overhaul of criminal justice policy. This included scrapping the government's Prevent counter-terrorism programme, ending routine police presence in schools, and shifting funding away from policing and prisons. The proposals also included legalising drugs, including crack cocaine, and decriminalising prostitution.
McCarthy rejected the idea that the party was anti-police, saying that investment in mental health services and other social programmes would reduce the need for policing. He also noted that the party's member-led approach allowed for "bonkers discussions" but also valuable grassroots ideas.
Panellists on the show were highly critical. Historian Rafe Heydel-Mankoo called the ideas "utterly insane" and pointed to US experiments with defunding the police that led to crime surges. He warned that the Green Party was "full of cranks and loons" and that its policies needed scrutiny. Senior political commentator Nigel Nelson dismissed the proposals as typical conference motions, comparing them to past Lib Dem ideas that never became policy.
The Green Party later told GB News that conference is still weeks away and not every motion submitted will be debated. Only motions passed by conference become party policy.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | GB News |
|---|---|
| The Green Party is considering a motion to remove tasers and pepper spray from police and legalise drugs, though the taser element was removed from an earlier draft and it is not yet party policy. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
GB News framed the story as a shocking and extreme proposal from the Green Party, but gave significant airtime to a party representative who downplayed it. The host and panellists were strongly critical, calling the ideas "bonkers" and "insane", while the Green Party chairman argued the party was simply practising member-led democracy.
- “Legalising drugs, raise a few eyebrows, but removing tasers and pepper spray from police officers from the front line sounds a bit bonkers.”
- “It's not a Green Party policy. It's not something that Green Party leadership are contemplating rolling out. I think it's a bit silly.”
- “This is an insane policy from a party that unwaryingly is getting a much larger tranche of the metropolitan vote than you would see in normal times.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.