Green Party councillor claims she was suspended over gender critical views
A councillor has been suspended by the Green Party (Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
A councillor has been suspended by the Green Party (Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
A Green Party councillor, and leader of the party’s group on Herefordshire Council, has alleged she has been suspended from the Greens for “at least six months” due to her gender-critical views.
Diana Toynbee, who represents the Greyfriars ward in Hereford, has led the nine-strong group of Greens on the council since her predecessor Ellie Chowns was elected as the MP for North Herefordshire in July 2024.
Her gender-critical beliefs, shared on social media, have included calling for the exclusion of trans women and girls from single-sex spaces and backing the work of For Women Scotland, whose case resulted in the controversial Supreme Court ruling that decided the definition of ‘sex’ in the 2010 Equality Act does not include trans people.
In recent posts on Elon Musk’s platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Toynbee wrote that “human beings can’t change sex, and no child is born in the wrong body”, “nothing right wing about child safeguarding and respecting women” and “nothing more anti-feminist than saying a woman is no more than a costume, identity or fantasy”.
Several of her posts also criticise Green leader Zack Polanski who beat out Green MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns – who were running on a joint ticket – in early September to become leader with 20,411 votes to 3,705. Polanski ran his campaign for the leadership contest on an eco-populism platform which put tackling inequality at the very heart of Green policy, with a notably pro-trans stance.
In a statement shared on Friday (28 November), Toynbee said she had been banned from serving as a Green councillor “for at least six months”.
“The central party establishment has ruled that I must be punished for my views on gender and safeguarding, and this is the painful culmination of years of intimidation,” she claimed, adding she will now join the Independents for Herefordshire (i4H) group “with whom I share values of freedom of expression and independent-mindedness”.
The now ex-Green councillor went on to say she had been “touched” by the “huge amount of support” she has “received from people from all backgrounds and views, who want politicians with minds of their own who don’t pretend to believe things they don’t believe”.
“My priority has not changed – to serve the people and nature of Herefordshire,” she continued.
“I look forward to continuing this work within the Independent group, whose welcome I much appreciate.”
In a separate post on social media, following news of her suspension, she also wrote: “Huge thanks for the many kind messages of support. To clarify, my punishment is unusual – I can remain a Green Party member, and a councillor, but am barred from being a Green Councillor!! Meanwhile, my independent spirit is pleased to sit with the Independents for Herefordshire.”
PinkNews has contacted the Green Party for comment.
