Greens can move Labour in the right direction, says Polanski
The Green leader tells his autumn conference that a vote for his party can force changes from Andy Burnham.
By BBC News
Zack Polanski has told Green Party members that voting Green can push Labour “in the right direction”, using his autumn conference speech to argue that pressure from his party has already forced change from Andy Burnham.
In remarks reported from the Green Party’s annual conference in Brighton, the party leader said sustained pressure from the Greens had helped shift Labour’s stance on climate and Israel, and he urged supporters to keep backing his party rather than wait for Labour to move on its own.
Polanski said: “Vote Green, and watch Labour move.”
He also claimed Green pressure had helped force Burnham into calling an emergency Cobra meeting this summer during record-breaking hot and dry weather, as the party sought to present itself as a check on Labour from the left.
The speech was delivered at the Greens’ autumn conference in Brighton on Friday 2 October 2026.
A Green Party statement published alongside the speech said Polanski was speaking from the Brighton Centre, where he used the platform to argue that the party’s “historic wins” had already helped keep the Labour government’s “worst instincts” in check.
The BBC report did not mention any police, council action, residents or customers, and it did not give a specific local Cheshire connection beyond the wider national political story.