Zack Polanski called for emergency rent controls and an end to the ban on supporting Palestine Action during his first leader’s speech at Green Party conference. He could not directly mention the upcoming Holborn and St Pancras by-election, in which he is hoping to overturn a large Labour majority in the seat previously held by ex-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, because of broadcasting rules. However, he repeatedly referred to issues impacting the north London constituency during his address in Brighton on Friday.
Emergency rent controls
The government should put in place a “three year emergency break on rising rents”, Mr Polanski said. “For too long, landlords have been able to hike prices way beyond wages,” he told delegates. “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. That’s £13.4 billion pounds that could be spent building new council homes. Repairing our creaking housing stock. Bringing homes lost through right to buy back into public hands.”
He added: “That’s why today I’m calling on this government to put in place a three year emergency brake on private rents. No rent rises above CPI, wage growth or 2% – whichever is lower. No sudden hikes. No evictions under the guise of rent rises. No more uncertainty, no more fear. That emergency brake would give renters vital breathing space.”
Deproscribe Palestine Action
Mr Polanski called for the Government to end the ban on Palestine Action, which was proscribed a terror organisation by Labour last year. Dozens of people were arrested at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday when they protested outside in support of the organisation.
Mr Polanski said: “Greens, we stand with one voice now as we say: Drop the charges. End the Genocide. Deproscribe Palestine Action. Politics is about priorities, isn’t it? So let me be plain about ours. If you’re at the sharp end of intimidation and violence - we’re with you. If you wake up in the morning praying for an economic miracle - we’ve got a plan to help you. And if you fight for justice and peace for everyone across the world – we have got your back.”
Tax the rich and hold Labour in check
The Green Party would impose sweeping wealth taxes to end “rip off Britain”, Mr Polanski said. “Tax the very richest. Bring our public services back into public hands. And end rip off Britain,” he told delegates.
He claimed the Green Party has “held the worst instincts of the Labour Government in check” and told members “vote Green and watch Labour move”, arguing that pressure from his party caused Labour to reconsider whether to approve new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea at Rosebank and Jackdaw.
Recent Green Party election wins had “changed this country” over the course of a “wild” year, he added, reflecting on results including “the first Green breakthrough on the Senedd” in Cardiff Bay and the party’s first Westminster by-election win in Gorton and Denton, won by Hannah Spencer.
Clean energy revolution
The Green Party will continue to protest new British oil and gas fields after recent brutal heatwaves. “This summer's fires should have been the final nail in the coffin for new oil and gas,” Mr Polanski said. “We know that drilling for new fossil fuels won’t bring down bills. We know it won’t make us more secure. And we know that it locks us into a hotter, more dangerous climate. And we say no. No more fossil fuel extraction - and a clean energy revolution, now.”
