1.2.3 – Minor political parties
On Tuesday 2 September, the Green Party of England and Wales announced that Zack Polanski had been elected leader of the party with 84.6% of the vote, defeating the joint-ticket of Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns. Ramsay had previously been leader on a joint-ticket with Carla Denyer. Both Ramsay and Denyer were elected MPs in 2024, making the Greens slightly anomalous amongst UK parties in choosing a leader from outside Westminster when one was available to them. Polanski is a Member of the London Assembly.
Polanski’s bid to become the Greens’ leader was based on a promise to be more confrontational in his approach, which he has described as ‘eco-populist’. The popularity of this pitch to members is due in part to the difficulty that the Greens have in getting sufficient airtime to voice their views, especially when compared to Reform UK. In the leadership contest he spoke of lowering energy bills with greater use of ‘green energy’, and his intention to nationalise water companies, who have been in the headlines over the past few years for various controversies.
With Polanski seeming to want to take the Greens further to the left, the party has two potential problems. Firstly, it may find itself in a crowded field alongside Your Party – the temporary name for the new party being set up by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana – which has already led to questions about the possibility of cooperation between the two parties and around electoral pacts. Secondly, a radical shift to the left will cause concern for two Green MPs (ironically the defeated leadership duo of Ramsay and Chowns) whose seats were won from the Conservatives. A shift to the left may make it harder for them to retain their seats given the demographics of their constituencies, and helps to explain the more cautious approach they aimed to take if elected. Given the perils of the FPTP electoral system, it is entirely possible that the Greens could increase their vote share under Polanski whilst losing seats at the same time.
The Greens are a good example of the impact smaller parties can have. Firstly the growth in support can help to influence the environmental policies of the larger established parties, giving them far greater influence than their vote or seat share suggests. Secondly, they demonstrate the difficulties that FPTP pose for smaller parties who may struggle to concentrate their vote sufficiently in a constituency to win a plurality, but may also garner enough support to deprive a larger party (most likely Labour) of winning instead.