Green leader Polanski calls for three-year brake on private rents
Zack Polanski opened the Green Party conference on 2 October 2026 by calling for a three-year cap on private rent increases.
The BBC said Polanski was set to make the proposal in his opening address BBC. The BBC said he described it as a three-year "emergency brake" on private rent increases.
The Guardian described the plan as a triple lock-style guarantee aimed at easing housing costs for young adults The Guardian. The phrase borrows from the pensions triple lock, a fixed rule for yearly rises. Separate video coverage which the BBC linked to the conference said Polanski called for a 'national fair rent guarantee' BBC.
As background, the party said in May 2024 that Polanski had been selected as its candidate for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, a vote to choose a new MP Green Party. That announcement also named Geraldine Coggins as the party's candidate for Greater Manchester Mayor, ahead of an election scheduled for 30 July.
The party said Coggins had announced a 10-year plan for 20,000 genuinely affordable homes in Greater Manchester. The plan would create a publicly owned provider called Homes for Greater Manchester to deliver them.
The broader context here is how leaders use an opening speech. They tend to pick one clear offer that delegates and canvassers can repeat. Polanski has picked rents. It is about what tenants pay, rather than about planning rules.
In my view, the language is doing different jobs. "Emergency brake" suggests a temporary limit, like a pause, not permanent control. Triple lock-style suggests rises set by a fixed formula rather than by ministers each year. 'National fair rent guarantee' suggests the same standard everywhere it applies.
Looking at what this means for the party's housing pitch, the two plans sit side by side. The Greater Manchester plan, which applies only there, is about building homes through a publicly owned body. The conference proposal is about holding down costs in private rented homes that already exist. Other parties will question the cost, the effect on supply and how it would be enforced. The detail given after the speech will count as much as the speech itself.
