Green party leader Zack Polanski (Green Party of England and Wales). Image: Bristol Green Party Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Green leader: “I love this place… I’ll fight for you.”
Zack Polanski was selected at a local party hustings last night (10 September). He will contest the Holborn and St Pancras byelection on the 8th October. The announcement was made by the Green Party this morning (11 September) at Kings Place in Camden.
Commenting on his selection, Zack Polanski said:
“I am proud and honoured to have been selected for a byelection in the constituency where I have lived and worked for much of the past 20 years.
“I love this place and so do the people whose doors I’ve knocked on in recent days – but it can be even better. I know times are tough in Holborn and St Pancras. My story of constant moving around flats is such a common story for Londoners – and I know many people here are really struggling right now. I’ll fight to turn this around.
“Greens are underdogs here but we have the momentum – and I know we can achieve a historic victory in one of Labour’s safest seats. We will fight a positive campaign on the issues we know people care about, and to put as much pressure as we can on Labour to lower bills, for much more affordable housing and rent controls, to reduce massive wealth inequality and to make sure Labour don’t back down on climate action by allowing more North Sea drilling.
“If elected, I will fight every day, in this constituency and in the Houses of Parliament, for the things people care about. Against injustice and on the side of ordinary people, not big money and the powerful.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham departs 10 Downing Street, London, to attend his first Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament, September 9, 2026
BRITAIN is proud to be leading the way in challenging the Israeli occupation of Palestine, Prime Minister Andy Burnham told MPs today.
Speaking in the Commons a day after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband had announced sweeping sanctions against Israeli settlements and denounced terrorist “ethnic cleansing” in Palestine, Mr Burnham said: “Britain is showing leadership.
“Words from any politician about a two-state solution will be only words if it’s not backed with action. And leadership is about taking action.
“Britain has to stand for something. Britain has to show leadership. Britain has to stand for fairness against injustice.
“Where people are being bullied out of their homes, intimidated, we will always stand with the underdog and take what action we can to support them.
“That is leadership on the world stage, Britain being true to what it’s always been about.”
Mr Miliband himself, basking in broad approval for his measures from Labour MPs for both his commitment to the new policy and for assembling support from France, Canada and elsewhere for it, brushed aside overwrought criticism of the sanctions from chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who had claimed they were “a dark day for British Jews.”
The Foreign Secretary said: “I’m a proud British Jew, and I don’t agree with the chief rabbi.
“I believe that it must be possible to do what we did, which is to stand up for British values of the rule of law, of dignity for people, of the prevention of injustice, and do so in a way, as I did yesterday, to say to anyone in our country who holds British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, that is antisemitism, pure and simple.”
He made it clear that British firms and potentially Israeli banks involved in the construction or financing of illegal West Bank settlements would be hit by the sanctions.
“We are seeking to cut off the supply of the supply lines of British finance, British construction, for settlement expansion,” Mr Miliband said.
“This is about a clear purpose, which is to draw a line in the sand and to stop this infinite, ever-expanding settlement expansion.”
He also shrugged off as “regrettable” counter-measures announced by the Netanyahu government, including the closing of the British consulate in Jerusalem and the banning of 11 MPs from visiting Israel.
“I would prefer that Israel hadn’t announced what it did, but overall, I strongly believe that what we did, along with other international allies, was absolutely the right thing to do,” the Foreign Secretary said.
The MPs sanctioned stressed it would change nothing in their attitudes and actions.
Your Party parliamentary leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement: “I have visited all parts of Palestine on several occasions, where I have witnessed the horrors of occupation, as well as the resilience and humanity of the Palestinian people.
“They are the ones who suffer from Israel’s apartheid.
“Israel doesn’t want the world to see what it is doing — but we can never give up in our attempts to expose the truth.
“That is the real scandal. Israel’s genocide cannot go unpunished — and I will keep speaking up for peace, freedom and justice for the Palestinian people.”
Fellow Your Party MP Zarah Sultana said: “Israel has just banned me from entering.
“Given that this is a fascist government presiding over genocide, apartheid and an illegal occupation, I’ll wear it as a badge of honour.
“I will not be intimidated into silence. I will continue to speak out against Israel’s genocide and against the UK’s complicity. If anything, this ban only strengthens my resolve to keep speaking out.”
She added: “One day, I look forward to visiting Jerusalem not as an occupied city, but as part of a free and liberated Palestine.”
Bradford West MP Naz Shah called the list “rather random and, frankly, bizarre” and said she was “proud of the UK government’s actions today, taken in line with our international legal obligations.”
She pledged to continue to campaign for a two-state solution in Palestine.
Labour MPs John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Richard Burgon were also on the list and all five Green MPs were sanctioned by Israel.
The Green Party said: “We will not be bullied into silence by the Israeli government.
“We are proud of our MPs for standing up for Palestinian rights and demanding an end to British complicity in genocide and illegal occupation.
“Banning our representatives only strengthens our resolve. The British government must stand firm and follow these overdue restrictions with a full arms embargo and wide-ranging sanctions.”
Green party leader Zack Polanski speaks to media following the National Emergency Briefing on climate and nature at the Central Hall Westminster, 27 November 2025, London, UK. Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire
It predicts a UK national security crisis with war, pandemics and food shortages.
Zack Polanski is calling on the government to publish the full, unredacted version of a report outlining how ecosystem collapse will plunge Britain into a national security crisis.
The report from UK intelligence chiefs warns that global ecosystem degradation and collapse will have devastating security consequences for Britain, including price rises, geopolitical instability, food and water shortages, greater pandemic risk, increased migration and conflict.
The Joint Intelligence Committee’s report was published in a redacted version in January and despite pressure from MPs and journalists, the Labour government has so far refused to release it in full.
Green party leader Polanski called on prime minister Andy Burnham to “tell the truth”, arguing that the public has a right to know the full scale of the threat.
Speaking at the Wild Summit in Bristol, Polanski said: “We’ve already seen how fragile our food systems are this year, with farmers warning that we could see empty shelves as a result of drought and flooding, and the government whispering that we should start stocking up on tinned food and bottled water.
“And these buried reports lay bare how unprepared we are for what is coming.”
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Polanski has said the byelection is a chance for the community to ‘make history’ by electing London’s first Green MP. Photograph: Ben Montgomery/Getty Images
Polanski says he will ‘stand up for people struggling to pay their bills’ if he becomes MP for Holborn and St Pancras
Zack Polanski will seek to stand as a candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, he has announced.
The leader of the Green party in England and Wales told the Camden New Journal on Thursday he would “stand up for people struggling to pay their bills” if he was elected as the representative for the area, which became vacant when Keir Starmer announced he was standing down as an MP.
In an effort to stave off accusations he was parachuting himself into the seat, Polanski said he had lived and worked in “this community” over many years. “I know it well and I love it. It represents so many of the things that make London so special. I am so excited by the prospect of representing this place in parliament,” he said.
Local Green party members will have the final say on the selected candidate, but the Guardian understands that they are supportive of Polanski running, and that there is no clear local activist with significant support expected to oppose him.
In a previously unreleased Freedom of Information reply the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it does not hold information about which companies, organisations or bodies are using the UK’s largest data centres nor the purposes for which they are used.
The government plans to massively expand data centres across the UK using powers to overrule community opposition by categorising them as items of “critical national infrastructure”, yet told campaigners last September that it holds no information about who or what they are being used for.
The rapid growth of Generative Artificial Intelligence has fuelled an unprecedented need for new and much larger data centres which have massive water and energy needs.
Green party leader Zack Polanski (Green Party of England and Wales). Image: Bristol Green Party Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Zack Polanski, Green Party leader said::
“How can the government designate new data centres as ‘critical national infrastructure’ when they don’t even keep records on who is using them and what they are being used for?
“The government plans to steamroller over local opposition so private companies can build these facilities – yet they can’t even explain what the benefits are and who is benefitting.
“What is more ‘critical’ than peoples’ access to water? What is more ‘critical’ than our need to transition to a low energy, low pollution world so we can put the brakes on climate extremes?
“The government must end this wrong-headed ‘critical national infrastructure’ designation and make sure UK citizens are given priority access to water as we move into an increasingly drought-prone future.”
The revelations come after Zack Polanski’s call last week for an end to the designation of any new data centres as national infrastructure, and for a tightening of planning rules to prevent a rash of new data centres taking precedence over households for water and energy usage.
Campaign group Global Action Plan who filed the Freedom of Information requisition are leading on a UK-wide call for a moratorium of new data centres. Their Parliamentary Campaigns Manager, Anisah Khan, said:
“Big Tech’s government-endorsed expansion of AI data centres prioritises corporate profit over community need. This reckless, rapid rollout is having a detrimental impact on the environment and housing targets, side-lining local people and politician’s concerns.
“At a time when individuals across the country are facing hosepipe bans and essential housebuilding is being delayed because data centres are gobbling up grid connections, what we need is not more chatbots at any cost.
“We need the UK Government to announce a moratorium on data centre developments until a clear framework is in place to address environmental and social concerns and impose transparency around these developments and their proposed societal use.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham departs 10 Downing Street, London, to attend his first Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament, September 9, 2026
