Green leader says leadership will not depend on Holborn byelection result

Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, says his position will not depend on the result of next week’s Holborn and St Pancras byelection. Polanski is seeking to take the seat formerly held by Labour leader Keir Starmer. He described the contest as a close race, but said the outcome would have national political significance rather than determine his leadership.

Senior Green figures are privately concerned that defeat could weaken Polanski after a rapid rise in membership and polling. The party has also faced internal friction over whether to focus resources on the byelection, according to the supplied report. Polanski, who has never been an MP, said there were advantages to leading from outside Westminster.

He argued that entering Parliament would provide another means of putting pressure on the Labour government. He identified the cost of living, nationalising Thames Water and ending the war in Gaza among his priorities. He also criticised Labour’s approach to North Sea oil and gas projects, saying its actions did not match its climate rhetoric.

The election is taking place alongside debate at the Green Party conference over a motion describing Zionism as racism. Polanski said the motion was not his priority and guaranteed, according to the report, that it would not lead to disciplinary action against a Jewish member simply for attending a synagogue identified as Zionist.