Zack Polanski argued that a win for his party in Holborn and St Pancras would serve to drag the Labour government to the left as he demanded a new triple-lock style rent control
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has called for a triple-lock style guarantee for renters as he demanded an end to “fear and uncertanty” facing tenants.
Mr Polanski, who is hoping to become an MP in the seat vacated by Keir Starmer, demanded a three-year “emergency brake” which would limit rent rises. In a wide-ranging speech he also called for an end to the proscription of Palestine Action and insisted that a vote for him would continue to drive the Labour government to the left.
In a keynote speech on Friday the Green leader told delegates: “For too long, landlords have been able to hike prices way beyond wages leaving renters forced to meet the cost to keep a roof over their heads, cutting back and back and back on everything else.
“It’s not just renters who lose out – it’s taxpayers too. Over the next year, more than a third of the money that the DWP will spend on housing benefits will go to private landlords subsidising extortionate rents.”
He said that for three years, rent rises should be limited to the lowest of either Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation, wage growth or 2%.
And in an election pitch to voters in Holburn and St Pancras, who will go to the polls on Thursday, he claimed that his party’s success in the past year had forced Labour to veer to the left. Mr Polanski has insisted that failure to win would not affect his position as the party’s national leader.
He hopes to overturn an 11,000 majority in a seat that has been a Labour stronghold for decades. Pointing to the change of Prime Minister since the Greens won the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, he said: “At general elections, the Government changes. But between general elections, we change the Government.”
But the buoyant words came as a split erupted among senior members over a contentious vote – expected on Sunday – over whether zionism is racism.
Members are expected to decide whether they believe zionism – the movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East in the historic land of Israel – is racist.
Former leader Caroline Lucas described the motion as “unhelpful” telling BBC Radio 4: “There is no single definition of Zionism, and irrespective of the intentions of the people who put that motion forward, I think there is a real risk that it’ll be divisive and could be seen as a sign that Jewish people aren’t welcome in the party.
“I will not be supporting it for that reason.” A party spokeswoman said it would be for members to decide, describing the party as “fully democratic”.