UK Politics

Zack Polanski has been elected as the new leader of the Green Party, after winning a landslide victory in the contest. The former actor and hypnotherapist received 20,411 votes from the party membership, while Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay’s joint campaign received just 3,705 votes. Elected with the largest ever number of votes in a Green Party leadership election, becoming the first ever sole leader of the party, Mr Polanski promised “bold action and bold leadership”. In his victory speech, Mr Polanski sent a message to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, saying the Greens were going to “replace you”. “We will nationalise the water companies. We will hold this Labour government to account. Because when we look at Keir Starmer and what this government have been doing, whether it’s the two-child benefit cap, the disability cuts, the genocide in Gaza, my message to Labour is very clear: we are not here to be disappointed by you, we are not here to be concerned by you, we’re here to replace you.”Mr Polanski used his victory speech to promise his followers and those who did not vote for him to work to expand the party, welcoming “thousands of new members” to the Green Party.”Thank you to every single person who voted for me. I promise to work every single day to deliver environmental, social, racial and economic justice”, he said. It comes as the Green Party seeks to pitch itself as a serious progressive alternative to Labour, having increased its Commons representation to four MPs last year.Zack Polanski was elected with the largest ever number of votes in a Green Party leadership election More

The Green Party has elected 42-year-old London Assembly member Zack Polanski to be their leader for the next two years.The former actor and hypnotherapist, who was deputy leader from 2022, saw off competition from former leader Adrian Ramsay and another Green MP, Ellie Chowns, with a pitch that he could do for the Green Party what Nigel Farage has done for Reform and previously Ukip.He describes his style of politics as “eco populism”, which galvanised party members, giving him a landslide victory over his rivals with 20,411 votes, while Ms Chowns and Mr Ramsay’s joint campaign received just 3,705 votes.Zack Polanski during the general election campaign in July 2024 More

Belgium will move toward recognizing a Palestinian state, the country’s foreign minister said Tuesday, joining a growing list of countries preparing to take the step as Israel steps up its offensive in Gaza.Maxime Prévot said Belgium’s plans to recognize a Palestinian state will be announced at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 9. However, the acknowledgment is predicated on two conditions — the return of all Israeli hostages held in Gaza and the removal of Hamas from political power in the coastal exclave. The conditions make it unlikely the recognition will be formalized anytime soon.The announcement marks the latest sign of international support for a Palestinian state, and would add Belgium to a list of more than 140 countries to recognize Palestinian statehood, including more than a dozen in Europe.Prévot on Tuesday also announced plans to ban goods coming from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and designate Hamas leaders, violent settlers, and two far-right Israeli ministers as persona non grata. “This is not about sanctioning the Israeli people but about ensuring that their government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground,” Prévot said on social platform X. Prévot said the European Union should increase more pressure on Israel by suspending ties with the country, including its trade pact known as the Association Agreement.Israel’s war in Gaza has stressed ties within the bloc’s 27 nations, ignited protests across the continent, and frayed political coalitions including in Belgium and its neighbor the Netherlands. But despite growing political tension, Israel’s deep ties with European military, business and academic institutions remain largely intact.Belgium’s announcement sparked fury from Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who, along with finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, is a likely target of the new sanctions.“The self-righteous European countries that are being manipulated by Hamas — at the end they’ll discover terrorism on their own flesh,” Ben Gvir said in a statement to The Associated Press.France and the United Kingdom have both announced plans to recognize Palestine, putting added diplomatic pressure on Israel.Australia, Canada and the European countries moving toward statehood recognition have predicated the step on the Palestinian Authority making reforms. But the body is deeply unpopular among Palestinians and is seen as corrupt and incapable of governing effectively. Israel has opposed granting it a larger role in postwar Gaza.The Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel’s government and most of its political class have long opposed Palestinian statehood and now say it would reward militants after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.—-Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report. More

Yvette Cooper has denounced calls by Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch for tougher action on migrants, accusing them of “standing on the shoreline and shouting at the sea”. The home secretary denied her attempts to curb small boat crossings by migrants had failed and said the problem would only be solved by “hard graft not grand pledges”. Ms Cooper said: “You can just stand on the shoreline shouting at the sea – and that is what the opposition parties have been doing.Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the first returns under a deal with France are expected this month More

Yvette Cooper has failed to guarantee that the number of small boat crossings will come down by this time next year, amid growing public anger of the government’s handling of the issue. Public discontent with the government’s handling of the small boats crisis and the housing of asylum seekers in hotels has led to a wave of protests over the summer, as well as criticism from Labour’s political opponents after the number of people crossing the Channel reached a record high this year. Asked whether the numbers of people making the dangerous crossing will still be going up in a year’s time, the home secretary refused to make “grand promises” – claiming that is what the previous government did and failed to deliver on them. Yvette Cooper has failed to guarantee that the number of small boat crossings will come down by this time next year More

Leading female politicians, campaigners and cultural figures have signed an open letter criticising attempts from the right to link sexual violence in Britain to the arrival of asylum seekers. The letter – signed by musicians Paloma Faith, Charlotte Church and Anoushka Shankar, as well as Labour, Green and independent MPs including Kim Johnson, Ellie Chowns, Diane Abbott and Zarah Sultana – says they “reject the far right’s racist lies about ‘protecting’ women and girls”. “They are not defenders of women – they exploit violence against women to fuel hate and division,” reads the letter, coordinated by Stand Up to Racism and titled ‘Women Against the Far Right’.Nigel Farage has repeatedly tried to link illegal immigration with levels of violence against women and girls More

Yvette Cooper has announced plans to suspend all new applications under the refugee family reunion route as part of a series of measures to clear the asylum backlog and clamp down on the number of people crossing the Channel. The changes mean that refugees will be covered by the same family migration rules and conditions as everyone else while a new, tougher framework for family reunions is drawn up. Refugees will now have to apply through the standard family scheme, which applies to British citizens. This requires them to demonstrate a minimum joint income of £29,000 per year before their foreign partner can join them in the UK.Giving a statement in the Commons on Monday, the first day back after a summer recess that was marred by growing public anger over migration, the home secretary said that a new independent body will be created to speed up asylum appeals, as well as announcing that the first returns of those who come to the UK on small boats will begin later this month under its deal with France. Yvette Cooper announced a wide-ranging plan to cut the asylum backlog More

If Labour MPs were hoping that the summer break had calmed things down for the party and seen an end to the infighting and manoeuvring, then they will have arrived back disappointed.The whirlwind of stories around deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and her property purchase, the speculation of dire consequences for the economy under Rachel Reeves’ guidance, and the mini -reshuffle as the new term began are all connected in a giant soap opera behind the scenes.Essentially, the common thread is Keir Starmer’s own future as Labour leader and prime minister and the fact that there are many now plotting his downfall while others are plotting to take out his biggest threat, Ms Rayner.The Prime Minister has had a mini reshuffle (Isabel Infantes/PA) More