Zack Polanski has said he wants the Green party to replace Labour and is already building links with trade unions. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
Leader understood to have spoken to 10 trade unions after party claimed working class voters are turning to them
Zack Polanski has kicked off a charm offensive designed to convince trade unions to stop funding Labour and throw their weight behind the Green party, as he delivered the first in a series of speeches to union conferences.
The Green leader has had “good conversations” with 10 trade unions, including some affiliated to Labour, according to party sources, and is due to address the University and College Union and the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, not affiliated with Labour, in the coming months.
The UK’s largest unions – Unite and Unison – were among those that denied negotiating with Polanski and said they remained affiliated to the Labour party. However, Unite is holding internal discussions about its future relationship with Labour before a special conference in 2027 at which it could potentially decide to disaffiliate.
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The Greens have enjoyed a huge boost in polling since their first national byelection victory in Gorton and Denton, and the party’s membership has tripled in England and Wales since last September to about 200,000.
A Green party source said: “When Zack became Green party leader he said his goal was to replace Labour – and building strong links with trade unions is a central part of that plan.
“Working class people are increasingly looking to the Greens as the only party which will tackle the cost of living crisis and stand up for their rights. Zack’s first priority is to push unions to stop funding the Labour party – a party which in opposition made huge promises to workers and is now watering down and U-turning on those promises.”
Wales Green Party Leader Anthony Slaughter. Image: NoBeefKieth, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Wales Green Party has today announced that it will be standing a full slate of candidates in all 16 constituencies on 7 May 2026.
Wales Green Party Leader Anthony Slaughter said:
“I am very proud to be offering every person in Wales an opportunity to vote for a candidate that will make a real difference to their lives. Someone who will take the cost of living seriously by introducing rent controls, start cleaning up our rivers by holding Dŵr Cymru/Welsh Water to account, and stand up for international law and human rights in the face of government complicity in genocide and illegal wars.
“Since the election of Zack Polanski last September, the Green Party has seen rapid growth – with support surging the polls and in our record membership numbers followed by last month’s decisive by-election result in Gorton and Denton.
“With Greens surging in the polls, and the new proportional voting system, we can elect candidates across Wales ready to work hard for the changes we urgently need.”
Wales is the first nation in the UK to scrap the First-Past-The-Post system and the election in May will be the first under the full proportionate representation voting system that was introduced when the Senedd Reform Bill was approved on 9 May 2024.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Starmer said it here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Iran’s Foreign Minister has warned Yvette Cooper in a phone call that allowing US use of UK bases is considered as British “participation in aggression”.
Green MPs and peers have written to Keir Starmer expressing alarm at the UK’s involvement in the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran and pressing the Prime Minister to answer a number of urgent questions – including what control, if any, the UK has over US strikes launched from British bases and whether British-made weapons components are being used in breach of international law.
They note that the UK is obliged under international law to have no involvement in illegal military action, including the use of UK bases and UK-made weapons, and reiterate demands for an end to all UK complicity in this illegal war.
FULL TEXT OF LETTER
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing as Green Party MPs and Peers to express our alarm at the UK’s involvement in the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran.
Already well over 1,000 civilians have been killed, including a reported 168 children killed by a missile now widely believed to be from the United States (Guardian, 2026). UNICEF has reported that the Israeli military’s assault on Lebanon is killing or injuring the equivalent of one classroom of children every day (Reuters, 2026).
In addition to the grave humanitarian impacts, the longer this illegal, unnecessary war continues, the greater the global economic fallout – to which the UK is particularly exposed because it remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
In light of this, there are urgent questions your government must answer:
What steps, if any, is your government taking to ensure that B-1 and B-52 bombers taking off from RAF Fairford are being used for ‘specific, limited defensive purposes’ – as you committed to?
What assessment have you made, if any, of how many Iranian civilians have been killed by US bombing missions from British air bases?
Are target lists for US strikes from British soil approved by the Ministry of Defence before each mission or audited afterwards?
Is the US being permitted to load banned cluster munitions at British bases?
What assessment has the government made of the risk of UK-made weapons components being used in violation of international law in Iran, including in the Tomahawk missile systems which may have been involved in the strike on the Shajareh Tayyerbeh girls’s school which killed a reported 168 children and 14 teachers, in the single deadliest known attack so far?
What assessment has the government made of the risk of UK-made weapons components being used by the Israeli government in violation of international law in Lebanon?
The UK is obliged under international law to have no involvement in illegal military action, including the use of UK bases and UK-made weapons. It is therefore of the utmost importance that these questions are answered as a matter of urgency.
This illegal war is inflicting untold suffering and devastation in the region and will cause huge and long lasting human, political, economic and environmental ramifications, as well as the immediate impact on the cost-of-living for our constituents. We, as Green Party MPs and Peers, reiterate our calls for the UK government to:
Withdraw all permission for the US to use UK military bases for attacks on Iran.
End all arms sales to and military cooperation with the Israeli government.
Impose sanctions on government officials responsible for breaches of international law.
Condemn the actions of Trump and Netanyahu for their flagrant violations of international law.
Refuse any further complicity in this illegal war.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Ellie Chowns MP
Carla Denyer MP
Siân Berry MP
Hannah Spencer MP
Adrian Ramsay MP
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
