Benali Hamdache with party leader Zack Polanski

VOTERS are ready to “punish Labour at the ballot box”, the leader of the Islington Greens has said as his party celebrated record membership numbers at their annual party conference in Bournemouth.

Benali Hamdache said that the Greens were preparing to quadruple their number of seats in Islington Town Hall at the May elections as their opposition “gets more and more unpopular whilst in government”.

He told the Tribune: “I think the problem with Keir’s approach is that it’s not clear, it’s not consistent, and it changes week to week. They don’t know what they’re doing. And Keir’s message [is not popular] in places like Islington that are socially liberal, progressive, want wealth taxes, want rent controls, want a government that is going to break us out of the Tory stupor we’ve had since 2010.”

Polling privately circulated among Islington Labour members does not deem the Greens a threat, predicting that they will just hold on to their three seats in Highbury.

But Mr Hamdache labelled Labour’s data “nonsense”, and said that his party was confident that they would have 12 councillors in the Town Hall after the next elections.

He said: “Even just Tufnell Park, we were only 124 votes away last time. It seems difficult to imagine that the Labour Party hasn’t gotten 124 votes less popular than it was last time.The Green Party is a growing, active movement. We’ve been on the doorsteps every week. I’ve got no doubt that we’re more aware of where the community is because we’re having more of those conversations.”

The Greens are riding high off the back of electing a new leader in Zack Polanski, the candidate backed by all three Islington Green councillors, and arguing for a new comms strategy that places social and economic policies like a wealth tax and banning landlords at the heart of their offering.

Speaking to the Tribune about the increased membership and media interest, Mr Polanski said: “I think the pique in interest is that everyone has known for a long time that we stand for the environment, they don’t necessarily know about our policies to tackle the cost of living, our more social justice policies, I think what this is doing is cutting through so that journalists, and more importantly the public know that we are bold and we’re not ambiguous about what our policy position. I think that’s been giving us a lot of cut through.”

Islington Greens at the conference in Bournemouth

Mr Hamdache believes that this is a programme that has already proved successful. He told the Tribune: “One of the big reasons we broke through in Highbury the second time was the extra work we put in to telling people that story about what we stood for outside of the environment.”
If handed the keys to the Town Hall, the Greens would look at more “creative” solutions to the housing crisis, their leader said.

“I would love us to think about community land trust, co-ops. Some of the worst landlords I meet are the housing associations, and we’re about to hand over a lot of new homes to Peabody.”

But criticism has come that the Greens would run up against the same problems as the incumbents: a lack of central government funding, and ever-increasing building costs.

Indeed, Labour councillors have argued they have long been hamstrung by the consistent under-funding of local government under the previous Conservative government, which has forced them to make cuts year on year. It is expected that millions of pounds more in savings will have to be made as Labour’s Fair Funding Review, which changes the formula for funding councils, comes into force.

Mr Hamdache said: “I will express some sympathy. The Labour council’s options are limited, but let’s be crystal clear: it’s a Labour mayor, it’s a Labour government, and it’s a Labour council.

“Islington Labour like to pretend that they are some sort of separate organisation to the national party. But they spent the general election going around the country, trying to get the Labour MPs elected who are then making the decisions that limit their opportunities as a local council. They are complicit with the decisions being made.”

The leader added that the ruling party should be exposing Westminster’s inaction, and”shouting from the roofs” that “potential cuts that this Labour government are going to visit on Islington council are going to be devastating”.

“They did that when the Tories were cutting their services, they’re not doing it when their Labour friends are doing it,” said Mr Hamdache.

To fund public services, the Greens would consider moving agency staff onto staff contracts to cut costs, and implementing a four-day working week, and bringing in an SUV tax.

“We need more participatory budgeting, more community listening, more citizens’ assemblies to have these conversations about, given the limited resources that we have, what does the community want, what do we need to be doing together to meet the challenge of the time?”

Polanski brings polish and populism to party

RAIN-battered hiking boots line up to collect conference passes as Green members descend on Bournemouth for their annual gathering.

Amongst them are the four MPs now in Westminster, and just outside is new leader Zack Polanski with allocated “hanging around time” to meet and snap pics with supporters.

There’s much to celebrate, members says, as over the weekend the number of party members reached a new record of 82,000, surpassing the Liberal Democrats.

But although the Greens are now bigger in number, the operation is yet to have the political polish associated with the establishment parties.

There are no lobbyists to be seen here. Very few have requested access, but those who have have been denied. Instead, the exhibition hall more resembles a village fete with stands handed over to charities, and different branches of the party.

Polanski and new deputy leader Rachel Millward are sporting suits and shiny shoes.

“They’re trying to push towards a professionalisation of the party, but it will take a while for the membership to catch up”, jokes one Green Party campaigner.

The very visual signs of transition signify something deeper though. Polanski is pushing the party to be bolder, and he talks of a wealth tax and standing up to the billionaires in his opening speech, long before the words “climate change” are mentioned.

The idea that social and economic justice are the prerequisite for addressing the climate emergency is being communicated more clearly, and even the over-60 eco-activists who have been the bedrock of the party are receptive to the message.

As has been the theme of every leader speech this conference season, the Greens are positioning themselves as the antidote to Reform.

Polanski describes Farage as a “Trump-loving, tax-avoiding, science-denying, NHS-dismantling corporate stooge” and accuses Labour of pandering to his rhetoric.

Criticism from the “sensible” political and media class has been that Polanski is just offering another form of populism.

Benali Hamdache, who leads the Greens in Islington, has a response: “I want a leader who is going to hold those rich and powerful people to account,” he says. “You can call it populism, you can call it whatever you like, I think there’s nothing wrong with being popular.”