Green MP Zack Polanski vows to tell ‘the truth’ about racism and stand up to far-right

GreenLeft vice-chairman Zack Polanski has promised to stand up to the far right and ‘tell the truth’ about immigration and racism.

Speaking at a conference weeks after riots broke out in the UK following false allegations about the murder of three girls at a dance class in Southport, Polanski praised counter-protesters who marched against the far-right.

And he said the threat to Britain “is not coming by rowing boat or small boat – they are flying in a private jet”.

In a speech to hundreds of party members and activists in Manchester, he promised the Greens would “reject both antisemitism and Islamophobia”.

Mr Polanski accused the Conservatives of lying about the scale of Britain’s immigration crisis and also attacked Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.

“We will not forget the Labour politicians who repeated the Tories’ lies, such as ‘we have lost control of our borders’,” he said.

It came a day after Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay used his opening address to Green members to attack the party’s “feeble offers and U-turns” under Sir Keir.

The Greens have seen their membership grow as many disaffected left-wing Labour supporters have turned their backs on the party over issues such as the war in Gaza and climate change.

While pledging to work with Labour on issues where the parties agree, Mr Ramsay condemned Sir Keir’s decision to scrap the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners and the “half-hearted” suspension of some arms sales to Israel.

As he outlined the battle lines for next year’s local elections and the next general election, Polanski continued his attacks on Labour, accusing the party of “cruelty to the most vulnerable children”.

“We are so desperately needed – two months into this and Labour still supports the two-child benefit cap,” he added.

He highlighted the Green Party’s immediate calls for a ceasefire in Gaza following the October 7 terrorist attacks, something for which Sir Keir has been heavily criticised. And he said: “To tell the truth – we recognise that peace simply cannot come until we end our own government’s complicity in violence.

“We must end further sales of weapons to Israel – and to all countries that violate international law.”

Elsewhere in his speech, the London Assembly member accused the British media of encouraging disinformation and fanning the flames of violent disorder in the wake of the Southport tragedy. Mr Polanski said there was “a very narrow window of the things you are allowed to say – and the things you absolutely are not allowed to say”.

And he said the Green Party’s electoral breakthrough in July, which saw it win almost 2 million votes and secure four seats in the Westminster parliament, was due to its ability to “penetrate and communicate honestly”.

“I don’t blame the media for absolutely everything that has gone wrong in history, but I do say that perhaps they have some work to do,” Polanski added.

He cited historic events such as Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists marching in the East End of London and said: “The thing about the media is that even then they refused to tell the truth”.

“And recently we have all seen the racist riots fueled by decades of anti-migrant rhetoric by politicians and in the media,” he added.

Mr Polanski was speaking on the second day of the Green Party conference in Manchester, where the four new MPs will also hold a meeting to meet MPs.

Members will also have the chance to vote on motions, including one calling for closer alignment with the European Union, laying the groundwork for Britain’s eventual return to the bloc.