Latest news with #eco-populism
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Green Party leadership candidates accuse Polanski of using ‘polarising' language
Candidates on a joint ticket for the Green Party's leadership have accused their opponent of using divisive language and threatening progress made by the party in the last year. Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay, who both became MPs last year when the Green Party achieved its best general election results, said Zack Polanski would risk the party losing support it has gained. The co-leadership contenders did not give specific examples of 'polarising' language he had used. Former Green Party leader and MP Caroline Lucas said Ms Chowns and Mr Ramsay's membership of the House of Commons gave them more authority compared with Mr Polanski. They represent North Herefordshire, and Waveney Valley in East Anglia, respectively. They are standing against Mr Polanski, the party's deputy leader and a member of the London Assembly. He has previously told the Guardian his bid would be focused on transforming the Greens into an 'eco-populism' mass movement. The Green Party had four MPs elected in July 2024, its highest number. Meanwhile, the party has more than 850 councillors after May's local elections, also a record total. Voting in the leadership contest will open on Friday. The result will be announced on September 2. The election was called after Carla Denyer (Bristol Central) announced her decision not to stand again in May. Ms Chowns said: 'As the current Labour government balances the books on the backs of the poorest, and backslides on its commitments to counter climate breakdown, it's crucially important that the Green Party keeps its distinctive identity as the only party in British politics with climate and environment front and centre. 'To win under first-past-the-post, we have to connect with a wide range of voters. We do that not through polarising language that appeals only to a narrow segment, but with the language of fairness, compassion and hope for a thriving, sustainable future.' She added voters had indicated they would be more willing to back the Green Party than the new party which is being set up by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana. 'Polling by YouGov shows that people who voted for all the other parties in 2024 are much more likely to consider voting Green next time than for a Corbyn-led party, and our ability to keep winning over voters from every other party is a huge strength in an increasingly crowded political landscape,' she said. Ms Lucas, who represented Brighton Pavilion for 14 years until last year, said: 'It's a huge advantage for our party to be led by people who are holding the Government to account every day of the week in Parliament, with the mandate that comes from being an elected MP. 'It reminds voters that the Green Party is a serious political party winning power at every level, as well as being part of the wider environmental and social justice movement.' Mr Ramsay, who has been co-leader with Ms Denyer since 2021, said: 'In recent years we've had unprecedented success, doubling our councillor numbers and winning four new Green MPs. 'This has come from a laser-like focus on elections, and from successfully building trust and sustained support in communities all across the country. 'Building that level of trust with voters is a massive achievement and, with the two-party system now clearly finished, it puts us in an excellent position to make much bigger gains. 'Ellie and I are hugely ambitious for the future of the party. We can't be complacent about the Green Party's hard-won credibility. 'As more and more people align with our values and vision, that credibility and wide appeal is what will enable us to play a central role in the future of British politics.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Green Party leadership candidates accuse Polanski of using ‘polarising' language
Candidates on a joint ticket for the Green Party's leadership have accused their opponent of using divisive language and threatening progress made by the party in the last year. Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay, who both became MPs last year when the Green Party achieved its best general election results, said Zack Polanski would risk the party losing support it has gained. The co-leadership contenders did not give specific examples of 'polarising' language he had used. Former Green Party leader and MP Caroline Lucas said Ms Chowns and Mr Ramsay's membership of the House of Commons gave them more authority compared with Mr Polanski. They represent North Herefordshire, and Waveney Valley in East Anglia, respectively. They are standing against Mr Polanski, the party's deputy leader and a member of the London Assembly. He has previously told the Guardian his bid would be focused on transforming the Greens into an 'eco-populism' mass movement. The Green Party had four MPs elected in July 2024, its highest number. Meanwhile, the party has more than 850 councillors after May's local elections, also a record total. Voting in the leadership contest will open on Friday. The result will be announced on September 2. The election was called after Carla Denyer (Bristol Central) announced her decision not to stand again in May. Ms Chowns said: 'As the current Labour government balances the books on the backs of the poorest, and backslides on its commitments to counter climate breakdown, it's crucially important that the Green Party keeps its distinctive identity as the only party in British politics with climate and environment front and centre. 'To win under first-past-the-post, we have to connect with a wide range of voters. We do that not through polarising language that appeals only to a narrow segment, but with the language of fairness, compassion and hope for a thriving, sustainable future.' She added voters had indicated they would be more willing to back the Green Party than the new party which is being set up by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana. 'Polling by YouGov shows that people who voted for all the other parties in 2024 are much more likely to consider voting Green next time than for a Corbyn-led party, and our ability to keep winning over voters from every other party is a huge strength in an increasingly crowded political landscape,' she said. Ms Lucas, who represented Brighton Pavilion for 14 years until last year, said: 'It's a huge advantage for our party to be led by people who are holding the Government to account every day of the week in Parliament, with the mandate that comes from being an elected MP. 'It reminds voters that the Green Party is a serious political party winning power at every level, as well as being part of the wider environmental and social justice movement.' Mr Ramsay, who has been co-leader with Ms Denyer since 2021, said: 'In recent years we've had unprecedented success, doubling our councillor numbers and winning four new Green MPs. 'This has come from a laser-like focus on elections, and from successfully building trust and sustained support in communities all across the country. 'Building that level of trust with voters is a massive achievement and, with the two-party system now clearly finished, it puts us in an excellent position to make much bigger gains. 'Ellie and I are hugely ambitious for the future of the party. We can't be complacent about the Green Party's hard-won credibility. 'As more and more people align with our values and vision, that credibility and wide appeal is what will enable us to play a central role in the future of British politics.' Mr Polanski has been contacted for comment.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Zack Polanski's ‘eco-populism' could put voters off Greens, opponents say
The Green party risks going into reverse if they elect Zack Polanski as leader, his two opponents have said, arguing that his promised brand of 'eco-populism' would prove polarising and divisive and likely to put off more moderate voters. Speaking to the Guardian ahead of the opening of the month-long leadership vote, which begins on Friday, Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns said the party in England and Wales was at 'a crossroads', and could miss the chance to hold the balance of power at the next election. 'I strongly believe that most British people have had enough with populist approaches to politics that seek to simplify everything, that are all about chasing the next headline, the next set of likes, rather than real substance,' said Ramsay, who has co-led the party with Carla Denyer since 2021. 'There's no point in just speaking to a certain section of the public that already backs you. You have to communicate in a way that has a broad appeal.' Ramsay, one of four Green MPs elected last year, is standing this time with another of their number, Chowns, after Denyer opted to stand down. The other hopeful is Polanski, the current deputy leader, who has promised to shake up a party operation he characterises as overly timid and uninspiring. Polanksi, a fluent communicator whose main leadership video has racked up more than 2m views on X, aims to make the Greens a mass-membership 'eco-populism' movement. This would see a push for more councillors and MPs matched with a radical change in communications strategy, seeking to create headlines as effectively as Nigel Farage and Reform. Allies of Polanski argue that, given how much effort was needed to move from the previous total of one MP to four, expanding in number to a meaningful 20 or more MPs would be almost impossible without a much bolder approach to generating media coverage. Ramsay and Chowns, however, say this would risk undermining the party's expansion, pointing to their own seats, in East Anglia and Herefordshire, which were secured against mainly Conservative opposition. 'Anyone who wants to win in a first-past-the-post system has to be able to win the trust of people who don't agree with them about absolutely everything, ideologically or policy-wise, but feel that they can put their trust in that person,' said Chowns. 'That's the reality of the system that we work within. 'This gets to the core of the difference between the leadership that Adrian and I are offering in contrast to the leadership that that Zack seems to be offering. We're way past those kinds of old ideas of politics being binary, left and right, simplistic like that.' Polanski, she argued, would risk limiting Green support to a committed core of little more than 10% of people, and would alienate less radical but more numerous left-leaning voters who could be drawn to the party. 'The danger of having a particularly polarising, strident approach to politics is that you seem very attractive to the people who already like you, but you may put off that wider range of people you've got to be able to attract,' she said. The vote of party members runs throughout August, with the winner or winners announced on 2 September. Green insiders say they have no idea which way the contest could go. Ramsay said the differences in approach, plus fragmented political loyalties which could see Labour relying on Green support after the next election, made the contest perhaps the most significant in the party's history. A Polanski win, he argued, might instead see the Greens slide back into irrelevance. 'We can't assume we will continue to go forward,' he said. 'We have dragged the Green party out of the wilderness years that we were in, in my early time in the party, when people said: 'We like what you stand for, but are you credible? Are you actually going to be able to make any difference?' 'We have shown we can win seats at the general election because we've got a message that's both bold and credible, and we have got to be both. And if you look at the sorts of tactics that Zack is proposing, they're quite similar to what happened in Australia, where [in the 2025 federal election] the Greens went back from four seats to one. So we can't assume that that progress will continue.' A particular difference could be in how the Greens approach possible links with a new leftwing party co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. While Polanski has said he could be open to cooperation, Ramsay and Chowns are more sceptical. 'Cooperation is in the DNA of the Greens,' Chowns said. 'We have always said we will cooperate with people wherever there is common ground.' However, she argued, the launch of the new party – which has seen disagreements between its two leaders and is still name-less – 'has not been the smoothest'. She added: 'If I was a voter looking for an alternative to the current way of doing politics, or a frustrated Labour voter, I'm not sure that that would inspire confidence.'
Times
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Zack Polanski: Greens should join forces with Jeremy Corbyn
The Green Party should be open to an alliance with Jeremy Corbyn and other former Labour MPs to emulate the populist success of Reform on the left, a frontrunner for the party's leadership has said. Zack Polanski is challenging Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns to become the next leader of the Green Party in elections that will take place this summer. The London Assembly member, who defines himself as an 'eco-populist', has won more than 100 endorsements from Green councillors and is viewed as a powerful contender for leadership of the party. Polanski said he was open to a pact with anyone who could challenge the rise of Reform. 'We have an increasingly unpopular Labour government that not only doesn't know how to handle it, but is actively making the conditions that are spurring on Nigel Farage even worse. So I will ally myself with anyone who shares my and the Green Party's values,' he said.
The Independent
30-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
I want the Greens to be a populist party – here's how we can do it
It's an exciting time to be in the Green Party. We've gained seats in eight successive elections, have four brilliant MPs in parliament, and we're polling in double digits. Since I joined eight years ago, the change has been huge – and built entirely on the hard work of our members. It's been an impressive decade, but the next decade needs to be explosive. That's why I'm running for the party leadership, on a platform of 'eco-populism'. I want to take the eco message beyond the grassroots and to the masses. You don't have to be a political scientist to see why this moment requires a bold Green Party. The climate crisis is affecting all our lives and biting into our livelihoods, but we have a government that has been disappointingly quick to break its promises on climate action, even when green investment is the clearest route to raising living standards and improving quality of life for millions of people up and down the country. First came the binning of the £28bn green investment – then support for major airport expansion, followed by backpedalling on clean car standards. Prime minister Keir Starmer has gone from shouting about a Green New Deal to jettisoning climate justice. The sad truth is that Labour is obsessed with the electoral threat from Nigel Farage's Reform UK, and its supposed green credentials are the first thing to go to the wall. This week, the prime minister made time to give a speech about how Farage, if he were ever put in charge, would crash the economy like Liz Truss. I don't doubt it – but politics shouldn't bend to the will of the hard right. More voters than ever are keen to vote Green. But I believe we need to communicate our clear policy platform in a way that better speaks to people's everyday needs. Under my leadership, we will stand with those at the sharpest end of the country's economic failures – and we will show them how a climate-proofed economy will mean warmer homes, cheaper bills, decent jobs and greater security for all of us. The current administration is missing basic opportunities to do green things. They're part-nationalising the railways… but have forgotten the most important part: improving the trains. Meanwhile, Robert Jenrick this week filmed himself stopping fare-dodgers on the London Underground – which is all well and good if that was his job. But, as a former minister, he had both the time and the power to create systemic change – and failed to enact change. Even now, in his role as shadow secretary of state, instead of pushing the government to reduce the burden on some people living in poverty, which is a much more effective preventive measure against crime, he is acting as some sort of vigilante for the sake of social media. It's not radical to say that corporations shouldn't profit from the water coming out of taps, or that extreme wealth ought to be taxed fairly – it's just that no one is willing to say it. Some might say such things are far cry from what the Green Party has been most known for. But there's no environmental justice without racial, social and economic justice, too. And the same corporations that are discharging sewage into our rivers are destroying our communities and, ultimately, will do the same for our democracy, too. In the coming weeks, I'm going to make it my mission to tell one simple story – one which says it doesn't have to be like this. We can do things differently. The UK can have clean air, lower bills, job security and public services that we all can rely on. This is what I mean by 'eco-populism'. At the very heart of our environmental mission are bread and butter issues that affect all of us. And making climate action relevant to people's material, every day concerns. Under my leadership, we will have a Green Party that can demonstrate that a better country and a better world is within our grasp – one that can build the mass movement needed to demand it.
