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(Bloomberg) — Three candidates are battling to become the next leader of the UK’s Green Party. They agree Britain’s increasingly fractured political landscape creates an opportunity — but are divided on how to seize it.
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Members of Parliament Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay, who are running on a joint ticket, embody the Greens’ traditional ethos of inclusiveness, equality and cooperation. Up against them is Zack Polanski, who wants to win over voters alienated by the “woke language” of the left by playing the populist right at their own game.
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The Greens’ leadership election comes at a time when the ruling Labour party, which secured a landslide election win just a year ago, is bleeding support. Some of those voters are turning toward the Greens on the left — but more appear to be defecting to Nigel Farage’s anti-migration Reform UK party, which has out-polled Labour for months. Currently the Greens have four MPs — the same as Reform, after one of its members resigned over an investigation into his business affairs.
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Polanski, the 42-year-old deputy leader of the Greens in England and Wales, is keenly aware of Reform’s rising popularity — and while he doesn’t agree with Farage’s policies attacking immigration and climate action, he does see the politician’s appeal.
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Echoing the sentiment of Farage, he says he’s “angry about net zero,” and warns that voters are alienated by the “woke language” of the political left. He’s been making those points on media appearances and social media videos, directly challenging the idea that Reform is the only place to turn for disillusioned voters.
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The green agenda — which encompasses everything from emissions reductions to protecting species from extinction — has taken on a tone and a vocabulary that’s not relatable for voters overwhelmed by the daily cost of living, according to Polanski. He’s calling for a rewrite of what it means to be green, drawing on ideas such as wealth taxes and a ban on private jets, to challenge the populist wave that’s galvanized the conservative movement.
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Polanski’s brand of “new green” has global parallels. In the US, some Democrats are taking the same tack. Arizona Democratic Representative Yassamin Ansari said populist messages on climate, including the potential for cleaner energy to lower electricity bills, would be crucial to help her party win back control of Congress in next year’s midterm election. Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City, won the ticket on a platform of addressing inequality with higher corporate taxes and public investment in housing, childcare and green infrastructure like solar panels.
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Chowns, 50, frets that the populist approach has risks. “I don’t think you can copy the style of populists — that divisive, polarizing rhetoric — without risking alienating many people,” she says. “Adrian and I want Green politics to be popular, rather than populist – and we’ve shown we know how to do this, by winning MP seats with huge swings.”
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Chowns wants to focus on policies she says “people care about,” such as taxing wealth to invest in public services, and ensuring new housing is properly insulated and includes solar panels. Her party has done that for years, she says, “by reaching out door-by-door directly into communities.” She says that’s “the opposite of the Reform playbook,” which relies on “over-simplification and the ‘big man’ mode of politics.”