Greens Party deputy launches leadership challenge, promising 'bold' new approach

A leading member of the Green party has launched a surprise campaign to oust Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay as leaders, saying the party needs to be less timid and transform itself into a radical, mass-membership "eco-populism" movement.

- Peter Walker

Zack Polanski, who has been deputy leader since 2022 and serves as a London assembly member, will challenge Denyer and Ramsay this summer despite them taking the party to its best-ever general election result last year, winning four seats.

Polanski told the Guardian he believed the pair had done a good job, but that the Greens needed to meet the challenge of Reform UK, which has a membership about four times bigger than his party's and surged to a mass of victories in last week's local elections.

"People are done with the two old parties and we're in this dangerous moment where Nigel Farage is absolutely ready to fill that vacuum," Polanski said. "We should never turn into Nigel Farage. But there are things we can learn in terms of being really clear in speaking to people.

"There's an empty space in politics, where we're not being as bold as we can be. Being sensible and professional are good qualities. But I don't think they should be the central qualities."

The Green party has about 60,000 members in England and Wales, while Reform has more than 220,000, a difference Polanski said showed the need for a change of direction.