Labour launches campaign against Zack Polanski to defeat Greens

Starmer’s strategists test anti-Green messaging, including leader’s former job as a breast enhancement hypnotist Daily Telegraph 06/04/26 Two years ago, before the last general election, voters could be forgiven for thinking of the Green Party as little more than a band of eco-friendly Leftists.

The party’s main policies in 2024 included a faster target for reaching net zero, more NHS investment and an end to university tuition fees – funded by tax rises for the rich. But all that has changed with the election of Zack Polanski, the 43-year-old self-described “eco-populist”, who has lifted the party to tie with Labour and the Conservatives in the opinion polls, just four points behind Reform. Under his leadership, the party’s policy platform has shifted dramatically further to the Left and now features pledges to scrap drug laws, legalise prostitution and lower motorway speed limits to 55mph. Concerned by rising support for Mr Polanski among young people, Muslims and the middle classes, Labour strategists are drawing up an aggressive campaign to attack him ahead of the local elections, when Sir Keir Starmer’s party is likely to lose a swathe of seats to the Greens. With the stakes so high, there is frustration in Labour headquarters that the Greens are still viewed by the public as a party of cuddly environmentalists, even when nature barely features in the Polanski-era manifesto. “We are the party that has reintroduced beavers into the wild,” said one enraged Labour source. “We are the party that is planting trees to build three new national forests. They could call for us to do more on nature, but they don’t.” Labour has commissioned focus groups to test anti-Green messaging with voters, including specific lines about Mr Polanski and his former job as a hypnotist, in which he claimed to be able to increase the size of women’s breasts. Although he previously claimed that he did not support the practice and had been stitched up by the Sun newspaper, an unearthed archive tape from 2013 showed last month that Mr Polanski in fact stood by his methods, arguing: “The evidence is growing.” “They treated Reform as a kind of family fallout, and that was a huge mistake,” he said. “Labour needs to learn from that and set out some dividing lines, but it won’t work to just call the Greens mad, because people don’t think the status quo is sensible either.” Despite a perception that the rise of the Greens is tied to their position on Gaza, More in Common’s polling shows that among voters switching between Labour and the Greens, the most common reason is the cost of living. Under Mr Polanski, the Greens have promised a dramatically larger welfare state, more spending on healthcare, more benefits for immigrants and a cap on commercial rents. In a speech last month, he declared that wealth taxes would be a “day one priority” for his government, levied at 1 per cent on assets above £10m and 2 per cent over £1bn. That message of economic radicalism – once owned by Labour – is likely to become the battleground between the two parties ahead of the next election. Labour’s latest campaign leaflets, distributed to campaigners last month, feature the new slogan “Greens have the wrong answers” and the threat that the party will plunge Britain into “economic chaos” with a raft of tax rises and unfunded spending commitments. A Labour source said: “Elections tend to be won and lost on the economy, and the further you get, the more scrutiny on you increases.” Mr Polanski has not always reacted well to that scrutiny, and often takes a swipe at journalists who have criticised him. His family has asked the IPSO press regulator to ban reporters from contacting them after a piece that alleged they feared that they would have to “leave the UK if he ever became prime minister” because of anti-Semitism within the party. “Polanski has a habit of going off the handle at outlets he deems are less friendly,” said the source. “He thinks it’s good turf to play on, going after media asking legitimate questions.” Unfortunately for Labour, the Green threat is likely to get worse before it gets better. Next month’s local elections will see votes across London, where the Greens have strong support, and Mr Polanski has forecast a “Green wave” to follow across the rest of England, Scotland and Wales. In the meantime, Sir Keir can only hope that the Greens – like Reform – hit a ceiling of support and stop climbing in the polls. If that ceiling exists, Mr Polanski has not yet reached it.