Should Zack Polanski resign as Green Party chief? Take our ballot and have your say
Is Zack Polanski’s time now up? We are asking Mirror readers for their view after a damaging night for the Greens as the odds tumble on him being gone before the next general election
What does the future hold for Zack Polanski?(Image: Phil Lewis/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)
Embattled Zack Polanski says he will not resign – but accepts it is now down to Green party members to decide his future.
The pressure is on the leader after Labour strolled to by-election victory in north London overnight as Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali held Sir Keir Starmer’s former seat. Ms Abdi-Wali, a former child refugee from Somalia, won convincingly with 12,292 votes, beating Mr Polanski on 8,928.
Despite the damaging defeat, Polanski refuses to quit, despite the odds this morning being slashed on him being replaced as leader before the next general election, following his defeat in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.
Now, we’re asking Mirror readers to have their say on his future by voting in our latest poll.
The pressure is growing on the 43-year-old, with the chair of the Jewish Greens group calling for his immediate resignation. The results come with the Green Party now embroiled in a row over a motion at its conference declaring that “Zionism is racism”.
Mr Polanski says he has no intention of standing down despite the by-election hammer blow, but he faces the biggest crisis of his leadership so far following Labour’s Holborn and St Pancras success.
Questioned about if he had considered quitting, he said: “Of course I haven’t. The Green Party when I became leader had about 60,000 members, we’ve now got 220,000.
“And as I said, the two best by-election results that we’ve ever had in Green Party history have both been under the current leadership.”
But said it is now up to Green Party members to decide whether he continues as leader.
Under the Green Party’s rules, Mr Polanski faces a scheduled leadership election next year – with his position being questioned following the controversy over the party’s anti-Zionist conference motion and the failure to oust Labour in the by-election.
Asked how confident he was to be re-elected as leader, he told Sky News: “That’s going to be up to the members and that’s going to be up to the leadership election that happens next summer.
“What I’m experiencing, though, is an immense amount of people who are saying actually they’ve never been prouder to be a Green Party member.”
It comes as Vivien Lichtenstein said Mr Polanski was guilty of a “dereliction of duty” after failing to vote on the controversial Zionism is racism motion on Sunday. She said she is still weighing up whether to leave the party herself.
Asked if he should remain in charge, Ms Lichtenstein told Times Radio: “No, I think he should resign.”
And pressed on whether she was going to resign she responded: “Yes, I’m certainly thinking about it, but I’m also discussing with senior members of the party and with colleagues.”
Labour MPs have attacked the Greens over their stance on Zionism in the wake of the overnight loss with Luke Akehurst, a prominent backbencher saying: “Voters in Holborn and St Pancras decisively rejected the Greens, not least following their disgraceful ‘Zionism is racism’ motion.”
Earlier Green peer Jenny Jones said: “He’s been elected for two years and so he has another year of his term to run. We don’t do things in the Green Party the way that other political parties do. We don’t depose leaders by gossip and criticism.”
