Polanski says Britain has been failed ‘by political class poisoned by extreme wealth’
Polanski says more than 22,000 people have joined the party in recent months. It is now mounting its most exciting campaign ever.
When he became leader, a journalist asked him why he was so sick. He did feel that way. So he “did that unique thing the Green party does – tell the truth”.
He was thinking of the enormity of the task ahead.
A failing government. A country where millions and millions of people are struggling to afford the basics.
The far right on the march …
Now you’ll be pleased to know the sickness quickly passed.
This is a country with so much going for it, but we have been failed time and time again by a political class poisoned by extreme wealth.
And you can see that poison everyday.
Rough sleeping up 164% since 2010.
Where half of renters are just one pay cheque away from losing their home.
Water companies pump sewage into the water and charge us extra for the privilege.
A country where we’re all paying the cost of the selling off of our shared assets. £250 more each household each year as a privatisation premium.
A country where a tiny few have taken our power and wealth.
Things must change.
Key events
Polanski says the Greens must “end the failed privatisation experiment”.
We must also end the failed privatisation experiment – saving us money and stopping the money we’ve all earned lining the pockets of shareholders.
Water in public hands. Clean rivers. Cheaper bills.
And ending rip off Britain means taxing the wealthiest to make Britain a country that everyone can afford.
Polanski says ‘economic model based on austerity and privatisation’ to blame for Britain’s problems
Polanski says on his first full day as leader he went to Clacton – not a phrase you hear often from the constituency’s MP (Nigel Farage), he jokes.
He says people there felt neglected. They need bold policies.
We’re here to turn our country around.
At every opportunity, from the doorstep to the TV Studio, our message is that the Green Party will bring down your bills, cut the cost of living and protect our NHS.
Polanski says the country’s problems pre-date Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.
These issues are rooted in an economic model built on austerity and privatisation.
But this party is clear.
We will break the shackles of poverty and hardship that lock so many in.
We will end rip off Britain.
And we will make sure that the very wealthiest pay more tax.
Polanski says Britain has been failed ‘by political class poisoned by extreme wealth’
Polanski says more than 22,000 people have joined the party in recent months. It is now mounting its most exciting campaign ever.
When he became leader, a journalist asked him why he was so sick. He did feel that way. So he “did that unique thing the Green party does – tell the truth”.
He was thinking of the enormity of the task ahead.
A failing government. A country where millions and millions of people are struggling to afford the basics.
The far right on the march …
Now you’ll be pleased to know the sickness quickly passed.
This is a country with so much going for it, but we have been failed time and time again by a political class poisoned by extreme wealth.
And you can see that poison everyday.
Rough sleeping up 164% since 2010.
Where half of renters are just one pay cheque away from losing their home.
Water companies pump sewage into the water and charge us extra for the privilege.
A country where we’re all paying the cost of the selling off of our shared assets. £250 more each household each year as a privatisation premium.
A country where a tiny few have taken our power and wealth.
Things must change.
Zack Polanski stars with an anecdote about filming a party political broadcast in Leeds.
I very much enjoyed the moment where I’m talking about excess billionaire wealth and a voice pops up from over a fence and says “You won’t find any of that around here mate!”
The best moment of filming though was when we were about to finish and a young couple came over to us to ask us what we were filming for. I start to say “The Green Party broadcast” when the woman turns to her partner and says “Bloody hell. It’s Zack. We just joined the party last night!”
Now – I can’t personally promise to turn up on the doorstep of every new member that joins – but it was a very lovely moment!
Denyer says Zack Polanski has already made a difference.
Zack will take us forward through sheer hard work with his vision for a brighter, fairer future, by making politics fun again and by being that all too rare thing – an inspiring leader who gives people hope.
She says Polanskis has been nominated as one of Time Magazine’s top 100 rising stars.
Carla Denyer, the former co-leader is speaking now. She seems genuinely surprised how many people are there.
She says the Greens are “unified, focused and ready with a bold, refreshing, positive vision, ready to be the antidote to the creeping politics of hate division and managed”.
She says she and Adrian Ramsay as co-leaders took the party from having one MP to four, from having 450 councillors to having more than 850, and to winning more than 2m votes at the election.
Rigby says when he was first elected, he was the only Green councillor on the council.
Now, in an enlarged authority, the Green have six seats.
Our group still might be small, but we are punching way above our weight as a group.
Chris Rigby, a Green councillor from Bournemouth, is opening the proceedings.
He starts by saying that is he not originally from Bournemouth.
I’m not originally from here, but this is where I chose to call home for the last 15 years. And Bournemouth is truly a global town, with people moving here from all over the world …
And in the face of rising nationalism across the country, I think it’s important to say now wherever you choose to call your home is your home.
Zack Polanski to address Green party conference
Zack Polanski’s speech to the Green party conference is starting soon.
There is a live feed here.
Adrian Ramsay, who was co-leader of the Green party until Zack Polanski’s victory in the leadership contest last month, is not at the conference this year, he says.
I’m sorry to say that I’m not able to attend @TheGreenParty conference this year, as it coincides with my Dad’s funeral. I really hope everyone has a great time in Bournemouth.
Carla Denyer, his co-leader, is there. She says she has been trying on the merchandise.
Denyer stood down as a co-leader, but Ramsay stood for re-election on a joint ticket with Ellie Chowns. They were easily beaten by Polanski, who is leading the party despite the fact that (unlike Ramsay, Denyer and Chowns) he is not an MP. The Greens have a fourth MP, Siân Berry.
Here are more pictures from the Green party conference.
Robert Jenrick claims ‘cowardly elite class’ is to blame for allowing antisemitism to go unchallenged
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has published an article in the Daily Telegraph today about the synagogue attack in Manchester. Conservatives like Jenrick have been arguing for two years now that the regular pro-Palestine marches have contributed to growing antisemitism in the UK and he has restated that case (also made powerfully today by the chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis), in his Telegraph article.
But there is a new twist. Jenrick, whose politics are becoming increasingly populist, blames a “cowardly elite class” for allowing this to happen. He says:
For years radicalisation has gone unchallenged. It has been allowed to grow and grow by a pathetically weak and cowardly elite class. The capitulation of so many of our institutions to antisemitism have made Jewish Brits feel like second class citizens.
Our universities have allowed antisemitism to fester. We have seen Jewish students have swastikas on their doors; universities stand by antisemitic professors. The violent chant to “Globalise the intifada” has been made fashionable by left-wing students who consider antisemitism to be the one acceptable form of racism …
At times our justice system has barely given antisemitism a slap on the wrist. When people paraded through Whitehall with images glorifying the Hamas paragliders, they were let off with a conditional discharge. Tam Ikram, deputy chief magistrate and a judicial appointments commissioner, turned a blind eye and said that he “did not find that they were seeking to show any support for Hamas”.
The Conservatives, of course, were in power for 14 years until last summer, and Jenrick himself spent several years in government, including two years in cabinet.
Polanski says ‘war on drugs has absolutely failed’, explaining why Green party favours legalisation
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has said he thinks all drugs should be legalised.
He made the comment in an interview with Charlotte Wright, political editor of BBC South East, in which he said he agreed with a Green councillor in Kent who has advocated full legalistion (which is Green party policy).
Polanski said drugs should be treated as a public health problem because “the war on drugs has absolutely failed”. Asked about the implications for taxpayers, he told BBC South East:
Well, I think voters are having to pay right now for a crime that happens, for the fact that people are in the illegal drug markets, for gangs that we see across county lines.
All of this is a failure of the fact that, again, for far too long, prime ministers have stuck their heads in their sand and said, if we just make drugs illegal, everything’s going to be okay.
Former minister Zac Goldsmith says Tories can’t be ‘even halfway serious party’ if they want to scrap Climate Change Act
And while we are on the subject of Zacks, another one, the former environment minister Zac Goldsmith, has joined those Tories criticised Kemi Badenoch’s decision to get rid of the Climate Change Act. In a statment to Politico’s London Playbook, he said the move was “not a mark of an even halfway serious political party”. But Goldsmith also told Politico that it did not matter much because his party was “unlikely” to be in power soon.
