Furious row as Labour claims Greens will ‘flip playgrounds into crack dens’
Green Party leader Zack Polanski accused Labour of ‘desperate lies’ after policing minister Sarah Jones sounded the alarm about decriminalising drugs
Green Party leader Zack Polanski (Image: Getty Images)
Labour has launched an extraordinary attack on the Green Party – claiming their plans would turn playgrounds into crack dens.
Policing Minister Sarah Jones branded Green chief Zack Polanski reckless after previous comments suggesting he would legalise class A drugs. But Mr Polanski hit back, accusing Labour of peddling “desperate lies” as he doubled down on calls for a new way of tackling addiction and crime.
Labour pointed to an unearthed 2019 Green Party policy paper which said recreational drugs can “enhance human relationships and human creativity”. Ms Jones said: “These reckless plans would shatter communities across the country and tear apart the very fabric of Britain. Polanski would unleash a drugs epidemic across Britain that would see our parks and playgrounds turned into crack dens.
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“Let’s be clear about what that would mean: lives shattered, anti-social behaviour through the roof, and public drug use running rife. It’s deeply irresponsible to even suggest this idea and its families and young people in our communities who’d pay a very heavy price.”
The Green Party manifesto called for a National Commission to look at ways to reform UK drug laws. This would pave the way to what it described as a legally-regulated market.
Asked about plans to legalise drugs like heroin and crack cocaine, Hannah Spencer, Green candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, this week told the BBC: “I think decriminalising is a conversation we need to have.”
Responding to Labour’s attack, Mr Polanski said: “These are desperate lies from a desperate Labour Party that knows it’s about to lose the Gorton and Denton by-election. Greens have a specific manifesto commitment to ‘preventing children accessing drugs’.
“In contrast, right now, while government refuses to legally control and regulate drugs, we have drug use and drug death increasing every year for the last 13 years, with more young people being exploited through the drug trade. Drug dealers don’t ask for IDs.
“If Labour cared about people as much as they did smearing political opponents, they would back Greens’ call for a national commission on drugs to see how we can reduce the harm drugs cause.”
Labour argues that taking a hard line on drug crime and investing billions in prevention and treatment holds the key to keeping dangerous substances off the streets. And it said that places where drugs have decriminalised narcotics – such as the US state of Oregon – saw a rise in opiod deaths.
Labour says the Green proposals risk making drug taking “a respectable and normalised recreational activity”. The Government pointed to record drug seizures, including almost 150 tonnes of banned substances seized by the Border Force in the year to March 2025.
The Green Party’s 2024 manifesto, which is still the party policy, states: “Elected Greens will push for the establishment of a National Commission to agree an evidence-based approach to reform of the UK’s counterproductive drug laws. Neither prohibition nor the policing of low-level drug offences, especially cannabis possession, have reduced use and consequently have had no impact on the size of the criminal market or the profits made by organised crime.
“Elected Greens will therefore push to decriminalise personal possession of drugs, diverting people from the criminal justice system towards support with addiction, housing and employment, from health workers focused on drug harm reduction.”
