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In spite of its size, the Green Party performs a vital role in British politics. Refusing, unlike some parties, to let the financial crisis rewrite its agenda it has consistently brought public attention back to incontestable fact that we in the West are not living within our means. This, Green party activists insist, is a moral issue rather than merely an economic, political or pragmatic one. Indeed, it is arguably the most important long-term moral question of our time. Even if they are supremely unlikely ever to dictate the Westminster agenda, the Green voice needs to be heard and taken seriously.

That makes it all the more worrying, then, that in the one place in the country in which the Greens do hold office, they have just made a decision seemingly calculated to erode their moral authority.

Christina Summers is, still, just, a Green Party councillor in Brighton. She is also a Christian. Although there has been an upsurge of Christian environmentalism over last 20 years, Green party affiliation is no more common in Christian circles than among the general public. Ms Summers’ combination of the two is welcome.

Ms Summers, also, however, holds to the orthodox Christian position that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Now, to some people, no doubt many reading this, that will make her a bigot. I humbly submit they are wrong. Christina Summers has no fundamental objections to the equality agenda. She has not spoken out against gay people. She supports civil partnerships. She believes that same sex-couples should have the same legal rights as heterosexual couples.

The problem is she believes, firstly, that the way the government has gone about this legislative issue is unacceptably undemocratic (no mention in a manifesto or the Coalition agreement, followed by a cast iron guarantee from a minister that the proposal would be made law); secondly, that insufficient guarantees have been made to those institutions who might have a problem with this change; and third, most substantively, that “marriage” is and has always been defined as a binding covenant between man and woman.

She said as much in a Council meeting and voted against a Council motion to lobby the Government to lift the ban on same-sex marriage. Technically the Greens do not whip votes but, as most liberal-minded parties eventually discover, this kind of political generosity is incompatible with effective government and some form of party discipline is usually necessary. There is nothing inherently wrong with that: even liberal parties need to adopt some illiberal measures if they want to govern.

However, what Christina Summers did, did not demand party discipline. She didn’t campaign, she didn’t ‘preach hate’, she wasn’t ‘homophobic’. Rather, she articulated what she believed, why she believed it, and then voted on the basis of personal conscience rather than party policy. That’s what you can do when you have a debate and free vote.

The Green Party thought otherwise, however, and chose to establish a Disciplinary Inquiry Panel to investigate her behaviour, which recommended, last week, that Ms Summers be expelled from the Green group of councillors.

One does not have to have full sympathy with Ms Summers’ position to see this as an illiberal and counter-productive move. Quite aside from the fact that they may lose a committed and hard-working councillor and activist, it gives the message that Christians (or more specifically those Christians who have orthodox beliefs on this issue) are not welcome in the party. Indeed, it gives the message that anyone of socially conservative views would not be welcome there. Someone like Roger Scruton, the most consistently ‘green’ of eminent philosophers writing in Britain today, would have no place there. Worse still, it associates green politics with a heavy-handed disregard for free speech and conscience.

It is not too late for the Greens in Brighton to think again, admit they have made a mistake – in particular of refusing to make this narrow issue one of conscience – and reinstate (or, rather, refuse to expel) Ms Summers. To do that would show real courage, but it would also make a hugely powerful statement about how freedom of conscience is entirely compatible with green politics.

If they don’t, the danger is that this whole episode will not only tarnish the Green Party’s image in Britain but also erode the moral authority that is so important to green politics.

Nick Spencer is Research Director at Theos | @theosnick

Image by PublicDomainPictures from pixabay.com available in the public domain.