Polanski hangs on after Greens lose Holborn and St Pancras to Labour

Zack Polanski is defending his grip on the Green Party leadership and insisting he will not step down after Sagal Abdi-Wali defeated him to keep Holborn and St Pancras for Labour. The byelection result leaves the Green leader under fresh pressure, even as he tries to cast the contest as proof his party can take the fight to Labour in one of its safest seats.

Activists in Camden have pointed to the Greens’ decision to back an anti-Zionism motion as the reason votes slipped away. Councillors for both Labour and the Liberal Democrats told the Press Association that voters said outright they would not back the Green Party after it passed the motion last weekend calling Zionism racism. That choice now sits at the centre of questions about Polanski’s judgment and the direction he is taking the party.

Polanski struck a defiant note, saying it was clear the Greens would come a close second and that taking the fight to Labour showed how far the party had come. He insisted voters want the Greens to keep Labour’s feet to the fire on affordable housing, public ownership of water and the climate crisis, and pledged that Greens will be there every single day holding Labour to account and demanding the change people voted for.

The defeat will disappoint the Greens, yet some will feel a quiet relief that the result has not forced an immediate leadership crisis into the open. Polanski’s refusal to quit keeps him in post for now, but the Holborn and St Pancras outcome puts his authority on the line. Party members watching the Camden reaction to the Zionism motion will judge whether his leadership still commands confidence or whether the byelection has exposed a deeper problem.

The Guardian reported the defence of his position alongside the scale of the setback. For Polanski the message is survival first: stay in place, claim progress from a strong second, and push past the awkward fact that a motion passed under his watch is being blamed by local activists for costing the Greens support in a seat they hoped to turn into a statement. Leadership remains in the balance while that row refuses to fade.