Green Party considers ban on circumcision for children who are 'not old enough to make an informed choice'

Published: 01:16, 12 June 2026 | Updated: 01:26, 12 June 2026 The Green Party is considering a ban on circumcision for young children who might be considered 'not old enough to make an informed choice'.   Zack Polanski's party's Health Policy Working Group (HPWG) launched a consultation seeking views on whether parents should only be allowed to consent to the irreversible surgical procedure on a child 'if that procedure is medically necessary'.  Circumcision is a medical procedure common in Jewish and Muslim communities, often undertaken eight days after a child is born.  The Green Party HPWG is also consulting on whether 'non-therapeutic male circumcision should only be performed on children who are old enough to make an informed choice'.  The ban is not party policy yet, but if voted on by members at the upcoming Green Party autumn conference in October it could pass.  It comes after a row between the Party's leader and US tech billionaire Elon Musk, who called Mr Polanski a 'scumbag and a traitor' in response to Mr Polanski calling Musk a 'threat to our democracy'.  Mr Polanski made the comment above a retweet of Musks' post about the Belfast riots, which read: 'Murderous migrants beheading innocent people in their home town is what's making people angry, not "social media"!'  The Green Party leader shared Musk's post, writing: 'This man is a threat to our democracy. He backs violence and extremism.  Zack Polanski's party is looking for opinions on whether circumcision should be banned for children who might be considered 'not old enough to make an informed choice' The news comes as US tech billionaire Elon Musk branded Polanski a 'scumbag and a traitor' in a war of words on X  'Blaming a group of people for the awful actions of an individual leads us to a very dark place.  'Musk, Lowe, Farage, Robinson - these men don't give a s*** about this country, they want to rip us apart.' Musk retaliated by responding to a user commenting beneath Polanski's post and wrote: 'He is a scumbag and a traitor.'  The news on the potential ban on circumcision, reported by the Spectator, is likely to cause significant division within the Green Party, which has faced several anti-Semitism allegations.  In May, the Daily Mail exclusively reported that the Party investigated more than 30 council candidates for alleged anti-Semitism.  Green candidates had claimed Israelis and Jews were 'cockroaches' and were behind the October 7 and 9/11 atrocities, and that a terrorist who stabbed two Jews to death in 2016 was a 'martyr'. Two women standing for the party in London wards were also arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after allegations they posted claims that ramming a synagogue full of children was 'revenge' rather than anti-Semitism, and shared a picture of a Hamas terrorist alongside the slogan 'resistance is freedom'. Former Green leader and MP Caroline Lucas said the comments that had come to light were 'totally unacceptable and require immediate action', adding: 'There's no place for anti-Semitism or any hate speech in the party'. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.