Zack Polanski has claimed Green Party electoral victories push Labour towards a more progressive governing agenda, as he called for controls to hold down the costs of rent across the country.
In his speech to the Green conference in Brighton on Friday, Mr Polanski claimed his party made a difference to Labour’s political outlook.
“Vote Green and watch Labour move,” he told members.
By-election bid
The Green leader is standing in the Holborn and St Pancras parliamentary by-election, with the aim of winning the seat previously held by ex-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer from Labour for the first time in its electoral history.
He told the conference: “A few weeks ago, we heard that the Government had delayed giving the green light to new oil and gas drilling at Rosebank and Jackdaw.
“Why? Because they’re worried about losing votes to the Greens.
“That makes me hopeful, because that is the difference our party makes: Vote Green and watch Labour move.”
He added: “Voting Green, between general elections, with our six or five MPs, is the most powerful vote you can make and here’s two reasons why.
“First: more Greens in elected positions. Making the change our neighbours, our communities, so desperately need.
“And second: at general elections, the Government changes. But between general elections we change the Government.”
Rent controls pledge
A Green Party spokesperson later told reporters the message of voting Green to change Labour’s direction could be sustainable in the longer-term, and insisted it would not lead to disgruntled Labour voters returning to their old party.
“There are still areas where Labour don’t go far enough,” they said, pointing to wealth taxes, Gaza, nationalising the water sector, and climate change, among the areas where the Greens had a more radical message than Labour.
Mr Polanski used his address to set out a new Green Party policy to control rises in private sector rents, modelled on the pensions triple lock.
He called for a “a three-year emergency brake on private rents”, adding: “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.
“Let wages begin to catch up with the rents that have outstripped them for far too long.
“And in the long term, we’ll put in place a national fair rents guarantee to keep rents affordable for everyone, forever.”
Palestine motion row
Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Polanski called for Palestine Action to have its status as a banned terrorist organisation revoked.
He told the audience: “The sight of pensioners being put in handcuffs and bundled into police vans for holding up cardboard signs – that has been a stain and a shame on this country’s reputation for far too long.”
Chants of “Free, free Palestine” could be heard from some Green members in the hall, who were wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves around their necks or across their shoulders.
The Green Party appears to be moving towards a row over Israel and Palestine on the conference floor over the weekend.
Green members are expected to debate a policy motion on Sunday which declares “Zionism is racism”.
Caroline Lucas, who became the Green Party’s first MP in 2010, warned it would be divisive.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday: “I do have serious concerns about that motion.
“I think there is no single definition of Zionism and, irrespective of the intentions of those who put that motion, I think there is a real risk that it will 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.”
She also said: “When it comes to Israel and Palestine, we are agreed that we need to call out the genocide in Gaza, that the Government needs to be doing much more, that there should be a two-way embargo with Israel on trade, and the Government must overturn the proscription of Palestine Action.”
Adrian Ramsay, a former Green co-leader, also voiced concerns about the motion to the Times newspaper.
Mr Polanski left the party conference after his speech to continue campaigning in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.
Signs around the conference centre encouraged Green members to also leave Brighton to join the campaign, knocking on doors across the north London constituency.
