Zack Polanski
Green Party of England and Wales leader since September 2025, architect of the party's 2026 surge.
Last refreshed: 13 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can Polanski turn a polling dead heat with Labour into actual council seats on 7 May?
Timeline for Zack Polanski
Mentioned in: Greens take Hackney and Lewisham boroughs
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Reform projected to 2,342 council seats
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Greens overtake Labour in YouGov national VI
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Voter registration closes in seven days
UK Local Elections 2026launched Green Party local election campaign targeting Labour flagship London councils
UK Local Elections 2026: Greens launch council assault on Labour turfWho is Zack Polanski and what does he stand for?
How has Green Party membership changed under Zack Polanski?
Are the Greens really level with Labour in the polls?
Background
Zack Polanski is the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, elected in September 2025. He launched the party's local election campaign on 10 April 2026 in Deptford, south-east London, explicitly targeting Labour's flagship councils: Islington, Lambeth, Hackney and Lewisham. A YouGov poll conducted on 6-7 April placed Labour and the Greens level at 16% each in Westminster voting intention, the first time in modern British polling history that the two parties have drawn level nationally.
Polanski, a former Scottish Greens politician and British-Polish activist, won the Green leadership following the party's historic general election breakthrough in July 2024, when it returned four MPs to Westminster. Under his leadership, Green membership has tripled to 220,000 — overtaking the Liberal Democrats — and the party is contesting its most ambitious local election slate. PollCheck projects possible Green control of Hastings and Norwich councils in the 7 May elections.
The surge positions Polanski as one of the most consequential figures in British Left-of-centre politics entering the 2026 election cycle. Labour strategists are openly concerned about urban vote-splitting, particularly in London boroughs where Green candidates have consolidated the anti-government protest vote.