Zack Polanski has urged voters to support the Green Party as a way of pushing Labour towards a more progressive political agenda, telling members at the party’s conference in Brighton: “Vote Green and watch Labour move.”
Mr Polanski, the Green Party leader, made the argument while campaigning for the Holborn and St Pancras parliamentary by-election. The seat was previously held by former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, and the Greens are seeking to win it from Labour for the first time in the party’s electoral history.
In his Friday speech, Mr Polanski said Green electoral victories had already influenced the Government’s political outlook. He referred to the reported delay in giving approval to new oil and gas drilling at Rosebank and Jackdaw, saying the Government was concerned about losing votes to the Greens.
“A few weeks ago, we heard that the Government had delayed giving the green light to new oil and gas drilling at Rosebank and Jackdaw,” he told the conference. “Why? Because they’re worried about losing votes to the Greens.”
“That makes me hopeful, because that is the difference our party makes: Vote Green and watch Labour move.”
Mr Polanski said Green votes were particularly important between general elections. Referring to the party’s parliamentary representation, he said: “Voting Green, between general elections, with our six or five MPs, is the most powerful vote you can make.”
He argued that electing more Green representatives could bring change to communities, while votes at general elections changed the Government. “But between general elections we change the Government,” he said.
A Green Party spokesperson later told reporters that the message of voting Green to influence Labour could be sustained over the longer term. The spokesperson rejected the suggestion that this approach would simply send dissatisfied Labour voters back to their former party.
They said there were still areas where Labour did not go far enough, including wealth taxes, Gaza, the nationalisation of the water sector and climate change, where the Greens had a more radical position.
### Proposed emergency brake on rents
Mr Polanski also used his address to announce a Green Party proposal for controls on private-sector rent increases. The policy is modelled on the pensions triple lock and would introduce what he called a three-year “emergency brake on private rents”.
Under the proposal, rent rises would not be allowed to exceed the lowest of consumer price inflation, wage growth or 2%. Mr Polanski said the policy would prevent sudden increases and evictions carried out under the guise of rent rises.
“No rent rises above CPI, wage growth or 2% – whichever is lower,” he said. “No sudden hikes. No evictions under the guise of rent rises. No more uncertainty, no more fear.”
He said the emergency measure would give renters “vital breathing space” and allow wages to catch up with rents, which he said had increased faster than earnings for too long.
In the longer term, Mr Polanski said a Green government would introduce a national fair rents guarantee intended to keep rents affordable.
### Gaza and the proposed conference motion
The speech also addressed Palestine Action, whose status as a banned terrorist organisation Mr Polanski said should be revoked. He criticised the arrest of pensioners holding signs in support of the group.
“The sight of pensioners being put in handcuffs and bundled into police vans for holding up cardboard signs – that has been a stain and a shame on this country’s reputation for far too long,” he said.
Some Green members in the hall chanted “Free, free Palestine” and wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves.
The conference was also expected to consider a motion declaring “Zionism is racism”. The motion remained subject to internal Green Party processes before any debate, according to the supplied reporting, and was expected to be discussed on Sunday.
Caroline Lucas, the party’s first MP, warned that the motion could be divisive. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said there was no single definition of Zionism and that the motion could be seen as suggesting Jewish people were not welcome in the party.
“I will not be supporting it for that reason,” she said.
Ms Lucas said she agreed with calls to end what she described as the genocide in Gaza, for the Government to do more, for a two-way trade embargo with Israel and for the Government to overturn Palestine Action’s proscription. Adrian Ramsay, a former Green co-leader, also expressed concerns about the motion in comments to the Times newspaper.
Mr Polanski later told the BBC that the Green Party was “absolutely united” on Gaza. He referred to figures concerning deaths in Gaza and child amputees, but the supplied reporting does not independently establish those figures.
Asked whether he believed Zionism was racist, Mr Polanski said the motion defined it as the displacement and genocide of the Palestinian people. He said that definition was racist, while adding that his focus was on measures such as stopping arms sales and intelligence-sharing with Israel and supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions.
He said he was calling for an amendment to the motion’s reference to one Palestinian state because he wanted equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians.
### By-election campaign
Mr Polanski left the conference after his speech to continue campaigning in Holborn and St Pancras. Signs around the conference centre encouraged Green members to leave Brighton and join the campaign by knocking on doors across the north London constituency.
His conference message linked the by-election campaign with the party’s wider claim that Green electoral success can influence Labour’s direction. It also placed rent controls and the party’s positions on Gaza and Palestine Action at the centre of his appeal to members and voters.
The impact of the proposed policies, and whether the conference motion on Zionism would be debated or amended, remained unresolved in the supplied reporting.
