Does Polanski have to go? Greens at the crossroads after Holborn and St Pancras

<p>Pressure is building on the party leader after byelection defeat, a damaging row over Zionism and polls that show him less popular than Nigel Farage</p><p>When Zack Polanski addressed his campaigners <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/27/green-party-wins-gorton-and-denton-byelection-in-blow-to-keir-starmer">flush with victory</a> after the Gorton and Denton byelection in February, he declared: “Labour’s electoral stranglehold is over.” The election of Hannah Spencer as the new Green MP for the Greater Manchester seat was a seismic victory, he continued: “I said we were here to replace Labour and this is what replacing looks like.”</p><p>But in the wake of Polanski’s defeat in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection on Thursday, and a calamitous row over the party’s stance on Zionism, the debate around what, or who, could be replaced has shifted to Polanski himself.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/09/zack-polanski-future-as-green-party-leader-holborn-st-pancras-byelection-defeat">Continue reading...</a>