Things fall apart: what brought down the Green-Labour pact?

“Sheffield council pulls back from the brink”, was our planned headline for last Friday’s Tribune article. It described how, after their coalition had essentially collapsed in very public fashion, Nicole Jewitt (owner of Coles Corner) had almost singlehandedly managed to get Labour and the Greens back around the table. Councillors on both sides, who had been more than willing to vent their frustrations to us, suddenly stopped picking up the phone. It appeared the negotiations precipitated by Jewitt would save the partnership.

But moments before publishing, we decided to add a few words onto the end of our headline: “... or does it?” We were picking up on a growing sense of unease, as the two parties failed to agree terms, and national politicians began to circle. Jewitt says that as the days dragged by, she knew the game was up. “When it didn’t happen quickly, I didn’t think it was going to happen”, she told us.

If you missed it, that story — which gives a full recap of why the council has been in meltdown over the last month, beginning at the Greens annual conference in Brighton — is here:

Sheffield council pulls back from the brink... or does it?

‘Most of the group disagreed with the leadership on this'

Sheffield TribuneDan Hayes

Now that the partnership has well and truly broken beyond repair, the blame game has begun. There are two versions of events. The first: the national Labour party waded in, overruling local leaders to shut it down. The second: after a resurfaced Facebook post reshared by the Green councillor Mustafa Ahmed, which claimed that any Muslims who condemn the October 7 attacks in 2023 “bear the shame of supporting the Jews,” there was no way it could go on.

The acrimony has become even more bitter than it was during the first breakup. “Frankly, I want to say I have no trust in Fran now,” Green Party leader Angela Argenzio told us. Meanwhile, Labour council leader Fran Belbin says she was “horrified” by Ahmed's post, and that the Green Party has been “making excuses for him”. “I feel those posts are very, very clearly anti-semitic,” she says.

So what really went on, behind closed doors? We've been speaking to those involved in the negotiations to find out.

‘Well, I think she’s lying to you’