'I cannot support recent actions' Green Party councillor quits in free speech row

A GREEN Party councillor on Bristol City Council has resigned from the party group - crucially taking the Greens back down to having a narrow minority of councillors once again.

- Tristan CORK

Cllr Paula O'Rourke is one of the Green's longest-serving councillors, but said she was quitting the party whip because she did not agree with the behaviour of her colleagues in walking out of council meetings when members of the public make gender-critical statements.

The Greens hit the national headlines in the past couple of months after members of the public began asking questions and making statements about the council's policies on transgender issues.

At one meeting earlier in the autumn, many Green Party councillors walked out in protest at some of the statements being made by people with gender-critical views, and at the most recent meeting, some councillors held up flags and little placards and signs in response to the statements from the public gallery.

That has prompted Cllr O'Rourke, who was first elected to the Clifton ward in 2016 and was the leader of the Green group in 2021, to resign the party whip.

She said she was doing so because: "I can no longer support the recent actions taken by some of my Green colleagues: walking out of the council chamber or holding up placards when people with gender-critical views come to speak," she said.

"These actions are not, in my view, compatible with the duties of elected representatives. I am taking this step to defend free speech, to uphold the democratic process, and to reaffirm that councillors must be able to hear from all citizens - not only those whose views are comfortable or convenient," she added.