Green Party proposes ban on circumcision

The policy, tabled by the Green Party’s Health Policy Working Group, is thought to recommend supporting a ban on circumcision - despite Zack Polanski's party insisting it stands for religious freedoms.

In May, the party insisted it supports the "right of all communities to express their beliefs openly".

The new consultation will look into whether the scope should be narrowed, with parents only allowed to consent "to an irreversible surgical procedure on a child if that procedure is medically necessary".

It is also said to be looking into whether "non-therapeutic male circumcision should only be performed on children who are old enough to make an informed choice".

Read more: Teenage girl, 14, charged with three counts of attempted murder at Manchester school

Read more: MoD in revolt: Healey and Carns quit over Starmer's military spending plan as PM faces new crisis

The divisive consultation has been launched ahead of the Greens’ Autumn Conference.

Circumcision forms an integral part of Judaism, with boys traditionally undergoing a ‘brit milah’ eight days after birth. The practice is also commonplace within the Muslim faith.

According to The Spectator, the consultation on outlawing the practice was first publicised in a ‘Greens for Palestine’ WhatsApp chat.

A message posted on behalf of HPWG Consultation Officer, Conall Monaghan, read: "The Health Policy Working Group has a mandate to replace the entire health chapter of policies for a sustainable society with a new health policy focused on health equity and addressing the wider things that impact health, as well as the NHS.

"One of the central challenges we faced at conference last year was around this subject, so helping us to respond to this survey will be a huge help in ensuring the Green Party has an updated Health Policy from this Autumn."

At present, between 15 and 20 per cent of the UK population is circumcised.

In the US, approximately 77 per cent of adult males are circumcised - a figure that has dropped in recent years to under 50 per cent.

The consultation comes despite the Green Party's website outlining its support for religious freedoms.

“We stand in solidarity with those from our religious communities increasingly under attack and firmly in defence of religious freedom, peaceful public gathering, and the right of all communities to express their beliefs openly and without fear," reads a statement on the website.

"Recent comments from Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch regarding public prayer by Muslim communities risk not only inflaming division and misrepresenting the nature of peaceful religious expression, but also undermining the very freedoms that form the foundation of a democratic and pluralistic society."