Polanski Urges Green Vote to Push Labour on Rents, Wealth and Climate
Zack Polanski said voting Green would push Labour to change, telling his autumn conference in Brighton on 2 October 2026: "Vote Green, and watch Labour move".
The BBC reported the address lasted half an hour. Mr Polanski spoke at the Brighton Centre at 13:30 on Friday 2 October 2026. The Green Party confirmed it published the full text the same day. The Guardian billed the event live as ‘Zack Polanski calls for three-year cap on rent price increases in Green party conference speech’.
Rent and housing
Mr Polanski said Labour had failed to act on housing. He called for a three-year cap on private-sector rent rises.
The BBC reported he proposed an "emergency brake". It would stop private rents rising by more than the lowest of three measures for three years: CPI inflation, the standard measure of price rises, growth in average wages, or 2%. He said it was immediate protection for tenants.
Mr Polanski said Labour had failed to take on the "powerful vested interests of developers and big landlords". He said Labour had offered little beyond talk on supply and affordability. He said a Green vote would make Labour shift.
Bills and wealth
On the cost of living, Mr Polanski said Labour had offered "slogans without action". He said only his party would end "Rip Off Britain". He said the Greens would not "hesitate" to tax "extreme wealth". He repeated the party's call for a windfall tax, a one-off tax on large and unexpected profits.
Climate, Israel and heat
Mr Polanski said Green pressure had forced Labour to change on issues including climate and Israel. He said: "Through our sustained pressure – and our historic wins – we have held the worst instincts of the Labour government in check." He said the Greens had "started to move them in the right direction" but could not wait for Labour to get there on its own.
He said Green pressure, during what he called government "inaction", forced Andy Burnham to call an emergency Cobr meeting in the summer. Cobr is the name for emergency talks ministers hold in a crisis. The summer brought record-breaking hot and dry temperatures.
The party said it had already pressed Mr Burnham on heat resilience. On 5 August 2026 it published Mr Polanski's call for financial help for homes to keep cool and free cool spaces in every community. On 12 August 2026 it published an article titled 'Burnham hears Polanski call for Cobra meeting: now we need concrete action'. On 20 July 2026 it had published his response. It said the Greens will judge Andy Burnham on whether he provides solutions to the affordability crisis and inequality crisis.
Rivals and party business
In the half-hour address in Brighton, Mr Polanski did not mention the Conservatives or Reform UK. He spoke about Labour's record in office. The New Statesman reported Andy Burnham is Prime Minister. Bloomberg reported Mr Burnham has steered Labour leftward.
Mr Polanski asked the Greens' ruling executive committee to postpone the party's imminent annual conference, The Guardian reported. Conference went ahead in Brighton. The party published his Autumn Conference 2024 speech as Deputy Leader on 7 September 2024. It published his 2025 leader's speech on 3 October 2025, with the 2025 page telling readers to watch on YouTube from 18:30.
What this could mean at Westminster
The broader context here is that Mr Polanski is not pitching to enter No 10, the Prime Minister's office. He is pitching for leverage over No 10, like a smaller party using its votes to pull a larger party towards it. In my view, the rent brake gives canvassers a clear number for the doorstep, the wealth tax gives a funding line, and the Cobra claim gives a contrast on competence. The language speaks to Labour voters who support redistribution but doubt ministers will deliver, and the pitch treats Labour's leftward move as real but not enough.
In my view, whether Labour strategists see that as flattery or threat will shape by-election pacts, votes in Parliament where every vote counts, and the tone of the next Budget response. A by-election is a vote in one seat between general elections.
