Sheffield Green councillors will ask an Urgent Question at Wednesday’s full council about a Labour councillor’s false claims against the Greens.
The question challenges Labour’s Mark Rusling on his false claim (since amended) that the Green Party “voted for the elimination of Israel by violent means.”
The question to be asked by Cllr Douglas Johnson, is
“On 2 November 2026, the Chair of the Environmental Services and Regulation Policy Committee, Cllr Mark Rusling, posted on his Facebook page, a statement that Sheffield Labour “would be ending our joint council administration” for reasons including his claim that the Green Party “voted for the elimination of Israel by violent means.”
I therefore ask the Leader of the Council if she will distance herself from that remark and if she will explain the extent that that claim influenced her decision to break down the council’s administration.”
Cllr Johnson said,
“There is no place for outright lies in politics. This is a prime example of lies infecting decision-making and shows how far some members of the Labour Party have fallen.”
Cllr Alexi Dimond said,
“You may have seen on Facebook and in the press today that Labour Councillor Mark Rusling has claimed that the Green Party “voted for the elimination of Israel by violent means.” We want to be clear, this is completely untrue. Mark is plainly lying here.
“There have been no calls for violence, military action or the violent removal of any state from the Green Party.
“This is a desperate attempt by Labour to distract from the chaos they have created on Sheffield City Council, which will harm ordinary Sheffield residents and confidence in Sheffield, and undermine the democratic process.”
Cllr Rusling is also a paid lobbyist whose employer received £120,000 from the government in a non-competitive award to supply “secretariat” services to the recent independent review of antisemitism in schools. The review recommended schools adopt the controversial IHRA “definition” of antisemitism, which the National Education Union said risks actively undermining efforts to confront antisemitism. Cllr Rusling was also appointed to be a member of both the reference group for the review and the implementation group for the government response.
Cllr Johnson added,
“This is not an innocent mistake. Councillor Rusling knows that words can cause harm and that his choice of words was deliberate.”
A complaint has already been lodged with the council’s Monitoring Officer as Cllr Rusling’s statements go against the Nolan principle of honesty that all councillors should follow.
