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: Labour and Greens draw level at 16%
UK Local Elections 2026launched Green Party local election campaign targeting Labour flagship London councils
UK Local Elections 2026: Greens launch council assault on Labour turfMentioned in: Voter registration closes in seven days
UK Local Elections 2026- Who is Zack Polanski and what does he stand for?
- Zack Polanski is the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, elected in September 2025. He advocates a left-green platform centred on climate action, housing and public services, and is targeting Labour's urban heartlands in the 2026 local elections.Source: Green Party 2026 election campaign
- How has Green Party membership changed under Zack Polanski?
- Green membership tripled to 220,000 after Polanski won the leadership in September 2025, overtaking the Liberal Democrats to make the Greens the third-largest party by membership.Source: Green Party local election launch, April 2026
- Are the Greens really level with Labour in the polls?
- A YouGov poll on 6-7 April 2026 placed both parties at 16%, the first time in modern British polling history they have drawn level nationally. PollCheck's weighted average showed Greens at 16.9% to Labour's 17.8%.Source: YouGov / PollCheck, April 2026
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.