As an ex-Green Party leader, here's my advice to Polanski

Huge congratulations to Zack Polanski, new leader of the Green Party, elected with a truly resounding majority yesterday.

- CAROLINE LUCAS

And what a campaign it was! Green Party leadership elections take place every couple of years and, frankly, they're often closer to a coronation than a competition. Not this time.

All of the candidates, Polanski, together with MPs Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay, who were making a co-leadership bid, have spent four months criss-crossing the country, speaking to packed public meetings, appearing at noisy hustings, and dashing to studios for in-depth TV debates.

These are new political times. The two-party system is over. The Labour government’s shift to the right, its unforgivable failures on Gaza, its inability to set out a vision of a better society and, above all, its abject refusal to take on Reform UK - capitulating, rather than confronting, its populist poison and lies – has led to a huge space opening up to their left. The role of the Greens will therefore be more important than ever, with real consequences for the shifting political landscape.

That means the expectations on the Green Party leader will be higher than ever, too. Fortunately, Polanski has unprecedentedly strong foundations on which to build. We are now a party with our highest-ever membership, highest-ever polling average, highest-ever general election result, and highest-ever number of MPs and councillors.