UK Greens leader Zack Polanski has announced he will contest a north London seat being vacated by former British prime minister Keir Starmer.
Polanski told local paper the Camden New Journal he would bid to become a member of Parliament from Holborn and St Pancras, a constituency Starmer represented for 11 years before stepping down earlier this week.
“Labour stands up for corporations and big money,” Polanski said in a post on X. “I’ll stand up for people and our communities.”
A date is yet to be set for the by-election but is expected to take place in the coming weeks.
In an election two years ago, an independent candidate who campaigned primarily on opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza took nearly 19 per cent of the vote while the Green candidate received over 10 per cent, giving the party hope of taking the seat this time.
Since Polanski became Green leader a year ago the party has had success in taking support from Labour’s left, winning a surprise by-election victory in Greater Manchester – where current prime minister Andy Burnham was a long-serving mayor – and nationally polling as high as 20 per cent.
But Polanski’s personal popularity took a hit after he criticised police officers for the way they arrested a man who allegedly stabbed two Jewish people in north London in April, according to pollsters YouGov.
A national YouGov poll on Wednesday put Labour tied with the right-wing populist Reform UK party of anti-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage on 23 per cent with the opposition Conservatives on 20 per cent and the Greens on 13 per cent. – Agencies