UK Greens Review Non-Medical Circumcision Ban, Sparking Concern

A policy working group in Britain’s Green Party has launched an internal survey on whether the party should support banning circumcision when it is not medically necessary, a move that has alarmed Jewish and Muslim communities. The report, first noted by The Spectator, says the party’s Health Policy Working Group is drafting proposals that could eventually become official Green policy if approved by delegates.

The survey asks members whether parents should be allowed to consent to what it calls an “irreversible surgical procedure on a child only when it is medically necessary,” and explicitly refers to circumcision. The initiative is meant to shape the party’s health platform ahead of its conference in September, where other contentious proposals are also expected to be discussed.

The article places the debate in a wider European context. In 2018, Iceland became the first country in Europe to outlaw non-medical circumcision, a decision condemned by Jewish and Muslim leaders. Similar proposals have also been advanced by far-right parties, including Germany’s AfD and Sweden’s Democrats.

Jewish News warned the policy could hurt Green support among Britain’s increasingly important Muslim voters and in areas with large Orthodox Jewish populations, including Hackney in London, where the party has had notable electoral success. A Green Party spokesperson said the working groups operate independently and that any proposal becomes official policy only if it is approved at a conference vote.