Responses for candidates for Leader of Green Party of England And Wales - Green Leadership
Following the publication questions to leadership candidates in June, and announcement on 2nd July of Candidates successfully nominated to be Leader or Deputy Leader of Green Party of England and Wales, Green House Think Tank gave all the candidates 1 week to submit answers.
Questions published in June 2025
Leadership Candidate Responses
1. Where are we now?
Do you think the UK is currently a democracy? Would you agree that our society’s economic and governance systems are broken beyond repair? If so, what is the Green alternative pitch? How much does economics need to change to deal with the climate emergency?
Zack Polanski
The UK doesn't have a functional democracy in any meaningful sense of the word. From the unelected second chamber to the egregious unfair voting system of first past the post to the governments shameful clampdown on non violent protest from climate action to being against a genocide.
Many aspects of the system are broken beyond repair but we must organise to replace them - specifically so that it works for people and not only for the powerful and the wealthy.
The alternative pitch looks like democracy that is based in communities where through organising and collective effort everyone has a stake in their local area and through that influences what happens in Westminster.
The alternative pitch is a party that wins lots more MPs at the next election but you don't start with the focus being on Westminster - you start with community organising and supporting and empowering people to engage with all forms of democracy including citizens assemblies and citizen science.
The inequality we're facing in our society is both making the climate crisis much worse & is driving it. Polluters from Shell to the super rich act with impunity whilst people are hungry and homeless. We need a massive redistribution of both wealth and power - and to destroy old outdated metaphors of the national economy being anything like household debt. Less made up fairy stories about the economy and more focus on real world needs and ecological boundaries.
Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay
No Response Received
2. How best can Green Parties help to transform our culture, politics and economy?
How should Greens deal with the gap between aspirations, expectations, and living within planetary boundaries?
Zack Polanski
Regressive forces used to focus on nostalgia and patriotism to tell their stories. Recently they've started to be more future facing - artificial intelligence and space travel.
In the Green movement we need to have our own set of stories of what a good life looks like, stories people can connect with. We were told we'd work less hours and get more pay but most peoples’ experience is exactly the opposite. It's a life with beautiful public spaces, a Universal Basic Income, a 4 day working week - where we don't obsessive over GDP (A terrible way to measure happiness and well being!) and we focus instead on physical and mental health and our collective happiness.
Our Green Party can place a huge emphasis not just on Parliament but actually on communities. What happens when people get together and create art? What are the stories that marginalised groups can tell about themselves in the places of power? I proposed and passed a motion in London's City Hall for a different group each year to have the main space to be able to create art that tells a collective story about themselves. (The Mayor stepped in and said no but that's another story!)
And as for aspirations - it's about telling the stories of cleaner air, unionised jobs with decent working conditions and fair pay and or cheaper bills. We must live within our ecological boundaries and we must reject the idea that doing so will be a degradation to our living standards. Quite the opposite - life at the moment is deeply unfair, unaffordable and grinding for people. We can be more hopeful and work towards social justice and environmental justice at the same time - they're inextricably linked.
Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay
No Response Received
3. Role of Green leadership?
How do you see your role as a leader within a democratic party? On what issues should Green Parties be a broad coalition that embraces diverse opinions, and on what issues do you feel a unified position is needed?
Zack Polanski
The role of leader in a democratic party is to be the spokesperson of the party. To help guide with the platform the motions and debates that come to conference but to ultimately be the voice of the membership. That's why it's so important our representation right now is outside of parliament - we need someone who can speak up for the membership and speak to the country at large rather than just their constituents.
And at the same time, the leader’s job is to give an opinion. Not to equivocate or to allow there to be an absence of leadership in our communications - but to work with the membership so that we're always amplifying our values and our work with clarity and compassion. Too many opportunities to lead and cut through have passed us by in the last year, often allowing Farage to drive the agenda instead.
On leadership more broadly, I think leaders don't need to be front and centre all the time. Effective leadership is being within the crowd - helping to guide it where it wants to go and bring a proud and effective member. I'm very interested in our informal leaders - those people who don't necessarily have titles or even defined roles but are doing lots within the party to help guide us towards more effective success and ultimately to effect change for our planet. New leaders aren't just found - they're developed. I think I regularly do this by believing in people and actively encouraging them and helping them connect with others in the party. Trusting that if you give people space, support and a platform then they can do brilliant things.
We should be a broad church and recognise that even churches have walls. We're an intersectional party that is rooted in social, environmental, racial and economic justice. We’re anti racist and all forms of hate crime. We stand with the marginalised and speak truth to power. Consistently. Repeatedly. And boldly. That's who we are. And we must remain a grassroots party that creates our policies through our members led process.
Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay
No Response Received
4. Electoral strategy?
How should Green Parties balance gaining more nationally elected representatives as soon as possible with building a movement and consensus to transform our culture, economy and politics across the party and wider society?
Does it pay to be provocative with messaging or does this risk recent electoral success? On which issues are you prepared to be provocative?
Zack Polanski
We should never be provocative just to get attention. What we should always do is speak the truth - and if that happens to provoke people, then make sure our arguments are well researched, our rebuttals well understood and that we have our best communicators making the case.
Far too often we get lost in the policy detail or in the ingredients and the recipe rather than communicating the final product. The meal and how it will change people's lives.
I don't see a binary between movement building and winning more MPs. In fact I think they both work in tandem. Being part of campaign groups, faith groups and non faith groups embedded in communities and organising around them creating the links is a brilliant route to winning lots more MPs in the future.
We should never shy away from communicating our values. Even if people disagree with us, lots of research demonstrates that people respect the authenticity and the conviction of telling the truth. Of course there are ways to deliver that are better than others and suited to the appropriate audience - but we (and the country) badly and urgently need a bolder Green party.
Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay
No Response Received
Find out more about why Green House is asking these questions...