Zack Polanski has revealed he would support independence if he was Scottish as he insisted another referendum on the break up of the UK should be allowed.
The leader of the Green Party in England and Wales claimed Scotland had been ‘screwed over by Westminster governments for a long time’.
He added this was contributing to a ‘Green surge’ in politics north of the border, at a time when ‘eco-socialism’ is growing in popularity across the world.
Speaking at an event in Glasgow on Thursday night, Mr Polanski said the cost of living crisis was ‘hitting people really hard’ with a ‘toxic combination of low wages and high bills’.
‘You’ve also got the fact that this country, Scotland, has been screwed over by Westminster governments for a long time,’ he added.
‘If I was Scottish I would vote for independence. I would look at what this Government has done and how it has treated Scotland.’
Mr Polanski said the UK Government at Westminster keeping Scotland in the UK ‘against their own will, not to be able to have an independence referendum, is not good for Scotland’.
‘We should make sure everyone has their right to decide the models of their country, and decide who and what their country is and how it is governed,’ he continued.
Zack Polanski has revealed he would support independence if he was Scottish as he insisted another referendum on the break up of the UK should be allowed
The Green leader hit out at Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who recently made clear the UK Government would refuse a second Scottish independence referendum, even if the SNP wins a majority at Scottish Parliament elections on 7 May.
‘Who the hell does Wes Streeting think he is?,’ Mr Polanski said, as he accused the Labour Cabinet minister of treating Scots ‘like you were children’.
Mr Polanski has overseen a surge in support for the Greens in England and Wales since being elected leader in September last year, with his party’s membership now at 225,000.
This includes a ‘huge surge from the Labour Party of disillusioned Labour members’, he claimed. Meanwhile, the pro-independence Scottish Greens now have more than 10,000 members.
Mr Polanski likened the ‘eco-socialism’ offered by both his party and Scottish Greens to the success of politicians such as New York’s Left-wing mayor Zohran Mamdani – a Democrat who was elected to the post in November last year.
He told the audience: ‘It’s happening south of the border, here, it’s happening with the Scottish Greens, it’s happening with Zohran Mamdani in New York.’
It was this week revealed how Mr Polanski has met with the campaign team of Mr Mamdani in the hope of copying his success.
He was reported to have held talks with Mr Mamdani’s aides in recent weeks as he attempts to boost his social media strategy.
The discussions are said to have focused on how Mr Mamdani used ‘high-quality video content’ to drive his ‘tax the rich’ campaigning.