I was rather sad when the only Green County Councillor on Hampshire County Council, Cllr Malcolm Wallace, lost his seat at the last elections.

I have a lot of respect for him. He was one of those Councillors who always read the Council papers, considered carefully what he was going to say and always made thoughtful contributions to debate.

He clearly shared a lot of the values the Lib Dems hold when it comes to caring for the environment and especially the long term commitment we have towards reducing harm from global heating.

Now, I learn that he has resigned from the Green party. Apparently, he is one of many members upset by the anti-semitic policy that was passed at their recent conference.

It isn’t uncommon for splits to appear within political parties. It is in the nature of politics for people to have strong views and sometimes events have a way of determining whether members stick to their values, or not.