Agree with him or not, you can’t help but admire the way Zack Polanski’s style has injected energy into the left of British politics. Indeed, Polanski and Farage between them are shaking up the political order with straight-talking, hard-hitting politics and the three traditional parties are struggling to keep up.
For Polanski, this is his moment to set out the Green party’s stall as the natural successors to Labour. And to do that, he needs to win big in Labours metro heartland. London represents that opportunity and with Labour seemingly in freefall, the prize is there to be grasped.
However, like Reform last year, the party is looking to expand into political territory where their infrastructure is non-existent. The result for Reform was some amazing gains, but a lot of near misses too. Gaining councillors is one thing, it’s gaining councils that makes the difference – and for the Greens, the big question is how many can they take, or do they end up with lots of near misses!
My one to watch for the Greens is:
Hackney (all outs) – Their number one London target, and a must win for the Greens to prove they are an alternative to Labour in urban metro seats. A win here would help set a narrative to build on, missing out could make it more difficult for the Greens to portray themselves as Labour’s natural successor
Stay tuned as I paint a party-by-party picture of the councils to watch and the stories they could tell come polling day.