Polanski Says Green Leadership Does Not Hinge on Holborn and St Pancras Byelection
Zack Polanski says losing the Holborn and St Pancras byelection on 8 October would not end his leadership of the Green Party of England and Wales.
Polanski is standing in Keir Starmer's former seat for the Greens against Labour. A byelection is a vote held when a seat becomes empty between general elections. The contest is scheduled for the week after 2 October 2026, with polling day confirmed as Thursday 8 October. The Guardian
He called the race "probably 50/50 right now" and "really on a knife edge". He has never been an MP, a member of Parliament at Westminster. He sits in the London Assembly, London's elected body that holds the mayor to account, and he was announced as the Green candidate for the seat on 11 September 2026. The Guardian In September, while campaigning in the constituency, the local area an MP represents, he said he was confident he could win the seat vacated by Keir Starmer.
That confidence is not shared by everyone in the party. Senior Green figures have privately said they fear a defeat in Holborn and St Pancras could severely damage Polanski's leadership. Polanski had asked for the party's annual conference to be postponed to focus on the byelection. The party's executive rejected the proposal.
The conference will go ahead in Brighton, where members are due on Saturday to debate a motion declaring "Zionism is racism". Caroline Lucas, Adrian Ramsay and Rachel Millward have distanced themselves from the motion, warning it could be divisive.
On policy, Polanski has called for a three-year cap on rent prices. The Guardian He has described the Holborn and St Pancras byelection as a referendum on ending "rip-off Britain", language the party set out in early September. The vote is on 8 October.
Labour, now led by Andy Burnham, is defending Starmer's former seat. The Greens are seeking to take it.
The broader context here is a leadership wager tied to entering Parliament. Polanski leads a party with national ambitions while holding a London mandate. A high-profile London byelection offers visibility and a direct claim to speak for Green voters in Westminster. It also concentrates risk. Defeat would leave the leader outside Parliament after a focused campaign. Victory would give him a Westminster platform. Many observers frame it as an early test of whether Burnham's Labour can reclaim progressive voters who moved towards the Greens.
Looking at what this means for party management, the next week combines electoral pressure with internal debate. The executive's decision to keep the conference timetable preserves internal procedure. It keeps contested motions on the agenda during a byelection campaign. How Polanski navigates the "Zionism is racism" debate, the rent cap pledge, and expectations around a 50/50 race will shape how members, rivals and Labour strategists watching the progressive vote judge discipline and direction.
