Polanski says Green leadership not tied to byelection win

Zack Polanski, leader of the Green party of England and Wales, says his authority does not depend on winning next week’s byelection in Holborn and St Pancras. The contest for Keir Starmer’s former seat is “probably 50/50 right now,” he said, adding that it is “really on a knife edge.” But he insisted: “It doesn’t depend on it whatsoever.”

Senior party figures privately worry that a defeat could badly damage his leadership. The Greens’ surge in membership and polling has not yet produced a strong ground campaign, and efforts to focus resources on the byelection have caused friction. Last month the Guardian revealed that Polanski wanted the party’s annual conference postponed to concentrate on the contest, but the executive rejected the idea.

Leadership under pressure

Polanski has never been an MP. He said there are “still advantages to being a leader outside Westminster,” though entering parliament would give another way to pressure the Labour government. At the party conference, members will debate a motion declaring “Zionism is racism” on Saturday. The motion is deeply contentious. Former leaders Caroline Lucas and Adrian Ramsay, and current co-deputy leader Rachel Millward, have distanced themselves from it, warning it could be divisive. Some Jewish Greens have raised concerns about what the motion could mean for their place in the party.

Polanski said: “Leadership is about priorities, and this motion isn’t my priority. My priority is the cost of living. My priority is nationalising Thames Water. My priority is ending the genocide that’s happening in Gaza and freeing Palestine.” He guaranteed the motion has nothing to do with disciplinary action against anyone.

Climate and Labour

The byelection is an early test of whether Labour under Andy Burnham can win back progressive voters who moved to the Greens. The result may influence government decisions on expanding North Sea oil and gas drilling. Polanski said the decision on the Rosebank and Jackdaw drilling projects has been delayed until after the byelection. He claims Burnham “literally wants to see whether he can get away with drilling for new North Sea oil and gas.”

Polanski sees two possibilities for Burnham’s surge in winning back younger voters. Either Burnham means what he says and will act now, or—the more likely scenario—it’s just talk. He said Burnham is promising things after the next general election, but a difficult budget is coming. “You don’t have to accept the half-fat version,” Polanski said. “You can join the Green party and actually make sure we have the country that Andy Burnham’s talking about, but not taking the action on.”

He criticised Labour’s climate policy for a gap between rhetoric and actions. “Does Andy Burnham just not care about the climate crisis?” he asked. He also noted arrests of Palestine Action supporters outside the Labour conference, saying people see Ed Miliband saying Greens were right on Palestine while pensioners were arrested for holding signs. Polanski has called for Palestine Action to be deproscribed. At the Green conference, members chanted “free, free Palestine.”