Zack Polanski wants unions to stop funding Labour and donate to the Greens instead (Image: Getty)
Zack Polanski and the Greens have made an audacious bid to “replace Labour” by trying to snatch its union funding. The Green Party leader has given the first in a series of major speeches to trade unions, calling on them to stop funding Labour and switch their support to him.
Mr Polanski spoke at the National Education Union’s conference in Brighton on Monday, where he called for rent controls, water nationalisation and action on energy bills. A spokeswoman for the Green Party said: “This is Polanski’s first in a series of major speeches to trade unions as part of his party’s pitch to ‘replace Labour’.” Rattled Sir Keir Starmer hit out at the Green leader as he said Britain would be “weak and exposed” if Mr Polanski, Nigel Farage or Kemi Badenoch were in Government.
The Prime Minister said of the Green Party leader: “He thinks that with a war on two fronts, now is the time to give up our NATO membership, now is the time to start negotiating with Putin over our nuclear deterrent.
“We’d be left so weak and so exposed if any of those individuals were in government, and it’s really important therefore that we stick to our principles, stick to our values and show the leadership that’s needed in a time like this.”
The union Unite has voted to cut the affiliation fee it pays to Labour by 40% over the party’s actions relating to striking bin workers in Birmingham.
The union said the £580,000 decrease from its previous funding level of £1.45million was unprecedented, and revealed the anger of its members a year on from the start of all-out industrial action in the city.
May’s local elections are a major test for the Prime Minister, with some warning that a disastrous result could spell the end of his premiership.
Labour is struggling in the polls and facing challenges from both Reform UK to the Right and a resurgent Green Party to the Left.
Pollster Lord Robert Hayward warned earlier in March that Labour faced a “very substantial” threat, especially following a series of “absolutely horrendous” council by-election results.
This included a loss to the Greens in the Gorton and Denton parliamentary race in February.
Speaking at Labour’s launch of its local election campaign, Sir Keir said MPs and election candidates were “fighting for Labour votes, for Labour values and Labour pride in whatever place you come from across the country – so important as we build a Britain for all”.
He continued: “The backdrop to these elections is uncertain.
“We’re facing a war on two fronts – the Ukraine war, now four and a bit years in – and let’s salute the bravery of Ukrainians over so many years, both on the front line and the civilians, as they fight for the values that matter.
“And now the other front, the other war, which is the Iran war, which I know is causing huge concern.
“People look at their screens, and they’re worried when they see explosions, infrastructure blown up, the rhetoric that goes with it, worried about whether this is going to escalate even further.”