Greens plan to twin Greater Manchester with Palestinian city
Key Points
- Geraldine Coggins pledged to explore twinning Greater Manchester with a Palestinian city.
- The pledge appears in the Green Party manifesto launched on 9 July 2026.
- Coggins would press the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to divest from oil and gas.
- The manifesto calls on Westminster to stop arming Israel and let asylum seekers work.
- The Greater Manchester mayoral election takes place on 30 July 2026.
Green Party mayoral candidate Geraldine Coggins has pledged to explore twinning Greater Manchester with a city in Palestine if she wins the region’s mayoral election on 30 July.
The commitment appears in her manifesto, which the party launched on Thursday (9 July) at the Niamos Radical Arts Centre in Hulme, where Green Party Leader Zack Polanski and Gorton and Denton MP Hannah Spencer joined Coggins to set out her programme.
“Greater Manchester has a proud tradition of international solidarity, from the campaign against apartheid to welcoming refugees fleeing conflict,” the manifesto states.
“In that spirit, I will explore opportunities to twin Greater Manchester with a city in Palestine, creating lasting partnerships between our communities and demonstrating our commitment to peace, justice and human dignity.”
The manifesto also committed Coggins to opening a strategic dialogue with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, which manages retirement savings for local government workers across the region.
She said she would press the fund to divest from oil and gas and from companies “complicit in illegal aggression, war crimes or genocide”, while increasing its investment in Mayoral projects.
Coggins listed two related demands she would put to Westminster as Mayor: to “stop arming the genocide in Gaza” and push for international efforts to end what the manifesto called the illegal occupation of Palestinian land, and to establish safe routes to sanctuary while letting asylum seekers work.
The document also pledged to make Greater Manchester a “city region of Sanctuary”, with Coggins stating she would “always stand up for our migrant, refugee and asylum seeker communities”.
Coggins has served on Trafford Council since 2018 and leads the Green group on the council. The Greens selected her on 20 June, promising to “throw the kitchen sink” at the campaign to stop Reform winning the mayoralty, after the party’s victory in the Gorton and Denton parliamentary by-election in February.
The wider manifesto included pledges to deliver 20,000 genuinely affordable homes over a decade through a new publicly owned provider, make bus travel free for everyone under 22, and create a £10 million fund to help councils and community groups take over empty shops.
Greater Manchester goes to the polls on Thursday (30 July). The full manifesto is available on the Greater Manchester Green Party website,
