Zack Polanski defies calls to quit and will not overturn Zionism motion

Zack Polanski has said he will remain as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, despite losing the Holborn and St Pancras by-election and facing calls to quit over his party's vote to describe Zionism as racism.

Labour's Sagal Abdiwali won the seat with 12,292 votes, a 45% share. Polanski came second with 8,928 votes, about a third of the total. Labour's majority was 3,364, but the result also produced a 13% swing to the Greens. The Greens said it was their second best by-election result and that they had more than tripled their vote share. Abdiwali, a council leader and former refugee, became the first British Somali woman to become an MP.

The result was not enough to remove questions about Polanski's leadership. Analysis of the vote suggested the Greens had gained largely from a pro-Palestinian independent campaign rather than from Labour. One analysis said Green support among people who voted Labour in 2024 had fallen to 8%, down from about 25% after the Gorton and Denton by-election. Labour, meanwhile, presented the win as a vindication of Andy Burnham's leadership.

The by-election came at the end of a turbulent week for the Greens. At the party's conference in Brighton, members passed a motion declaring that Zionism is racism and calling for a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine. Polanski was not present for the vote. He was campaigning in Holborn and St Pancras and had tried to have the conference postponed. The motion passed by 1,022 votes to 813. About 1,800 members voted, around 0.4% of a membership of roughly 220,000 to 230,000.

Polanski said he had sought amendments and would have voted against the motion without them. He objected in particular to the demand for a one-state solution, arguing that the British government and the Green Party should not decide the future of the region. He later said he did not believe the motion was controversial in substance, saying the practical application of Zionism had led to Palestinians being displaced, killed and ethnically cleansed. He also said he disagreed with the section calling for a single state. In one interview he said he would have supported the motion as amended; because it was not amended, he said, he would not have supported it.

He has refused to say directly whether Israel has a right to exist. Pressed on the point, he said he believed Israelis and Palestinians should have equal rights in a democracy and described Israel as a one-state apartheid state. He also said no state had a right to oppress another people or to commit apartheid or genocide.

Polanski has said he will not try to overturn the policy immediately. Under party rules, conference policy lasts for two years. He wants to amend the motion at the first opportunity, but he rejected suggestions that he should change the rules to act sooner. He said he was not an out of control autocrat and that he respected the democratic will of members. He has also said he will fight the next leadership election, which is due next summer.

Criticism has come from inside the party. The chair of Jewish Greens, Vivian Lichtenstein, said she had no confidence in him and that he should apologies or resign. Joshua Alston, a former Jewish Greens policy officer, resigned so he could speak out. He called Polanski's handling poor and cowardly leadership and said he should resign. Former leader Caroline Lucas said Polanski had failed to show leadership on the motion and that the jury was out, though she later clarified that she was not calling for him to step down. Another former co-leader, Jonathan Bartley, said it was not tenable to leave the policy unchanged for two years. Ellie Chowns, a Green MP, said she would have liked Polanski to be clearer before the vote and said she would stay and fight for the soul of the party.

Deputy leader Rachel Millward defended Polanski. She said he should not resign and argued that the party's rapid growth had outpaced its structures. She said she had voted against the motion herself. Polanski also has supporters who say the leadership election should decide his future.

The row has spread beyond the party. Labour has told its councillors not to work with Green politicians unless they disown the policy. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission is looking at whether the policy is discriminatory. The Israeli government has denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide, criticised the Green Party and banned Polanski from entering Israel. Activists who backed the motion have rejected accusations of entryism, with one saying such claims sound racist.

The broader fight is over the identity of the Green Party. Traditionalists want it to focus on climate, nature and local issues. New members want it to speak more loudly on Gaza and international law. Polanski's future is not settled, but he is currently refusing to go.