3nago 14.21 BST Polanski says Britain at its best when it's thoughtful, considerate, kind’ Polanski ends with a story about a visit to a bakery that employs ex- offenders. 44 I'want to end on a tiny moment, a small gesture but it’s something that’s really stuck with me in this month. I went to visit the Dusty Knuckle near where Ilive in Hackney. It’s a bakery that employs people who have just come out of prison. Mentors go to visit people just before they leave and smooth over a transition process to a fresh start in life. It was an amazing visit where I was humbled to spend time talking to so many different people each with their own different story. The one that struck me though was a man who said it was his first day out of prison. He arrived - terrified of this new life. He was a little late because it had been years since he'd used public transport and there was a cup of tea waiting for him. Someone knowing he was going to be late - had made the time to make a stranger a cup of tea. A simple act of kindness from one stranger to another. That’s what this country is when it’s at it’s best. And that matters today of all days. It’s thoughtful, it’s considerate and it’s kind. This May is huge - hateful, divisive politics is on the ballot paper. We can and must reject that. Let’s instead look after each other. The Green party’s moment is now. Let’s go. And that’s it.

2hago 15.33BST And these are from my colleague Peter Walker, who was listening to Zack Polanski’s speech in the conference hall in Bournemouth. 44 Polanski did describe himself (sort of) as an “eco populist”, but he’s a curious sort of populist - quite gentle, without the very obvious ego and brazen public front you'd normally associate with the idea. But he’s a very good public speaker. 44 He has just described how his ancestors arrived in England from Latvia via Ukraine and Poland, fleeing pogroms but still facing antisemitism in the UK. Polanski explains how he thus changed his surname back from the anglicised “Paulden” they adopted. 44 That speech was quite light on specific Green policies but it’s clear that Polanski is a *much* more effective public speaker than Starmer, Badenoch or Davey, & possibly on a par (albeit v differently) to Farage. It’s no wonder Labour are privately pretty worried about possible losses to the Greens.

hago 1616 8ST 'Unrestrained capitalism’ biggest threat to culture and language in Wales, says Welsh Green leader Andrew Slaughter, the Green party’s leader in Wales, is speaking at the conference now. He says Labour promised change at the last election, but the defining emotion people feel now is fear, he says. 44 After promising change, this Labour government has snuffed out every hope people had for it. People were desperate for that hope when they voted last year. But Labour lied. Imeet diehard Labour voters every day who tell me, never again. A common refrain is that what this government is doing is even worse than the Tories. Their longtime voters can see this clearly now, and they are rightly furious. Slaughter says the Greens should be taking on “the corporations and the billionaires that are robbing us blind”. 44 We always thought the Tories were ones who shovelled public money into the hands of the rich, but Labour wanted to be even bigger corporate sycophants. Slaughter says “unrestrained capitalism” is the greatest threat to language and culture in Wales. 44 The brutal logic of austerity has decimated our social fabric across the board, but it’s also undermining the very foundations of who we are. But unrestrained capitalism is the same hostile force that working people have fought for centuries. Slaughter says he has seen this in the housing sector, and that is why the Greens will fight for renters’ rights.

46mago 16.29 8ST Luke Tryl, a polling expert and More in Common UK director, has posted a thread on Bluesky with some thoughts on Zack Polanski’s speech. His comments are here, but you will need to read the thread to see all the charts he has included. 44 Thoughts on Polanski speech: his pledge to “end rip off Britain” is closest to chiming with public mood on the cost of living of leaders speeches yet. The sense essentials, let alone treats are unaffordable & govt is unable/unwilling to tackle it epitomises broken Britain mood 44 It’s also a message that resonates squarely with Polanski’s own voters, Green voters along with Reform UK voters are the most likely to think we need to let our institutions ‘burn’ and also the least likely to think that higher GDP growth benefits people like them 44 Clearly his pitch is the ‘anti-system left’ designed to win support to Labour’s left - and it’s pretty striking that when you look at the current VI of Green Party voters, a plurality are those who voted for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour in 2019. 44 Green supporters are younger than voters as a whole, and more female. They are particularly likely to be animated by climate (unsurprisingly) and housing compared to the wider public.

44 The idea of a wealth tax is popular across the board, though it is worth stressing this is highly hypothetical and as with Digital ID, when the debate became real with winners/losers and cost/benefit estimates this could shift significantly. 44 Risks of Polanski’s approach? His embrace of a much more open immigration policy isn’t backed by most voters - even green voters are more likely to say reduce than increase (though by a smaller margin). That said there clearly is a more pro-migration minority he could speak to. 44 There’s also a question whether the eco-populism pitch deters those who were voting green for the eco bit. On balance I think the Green's future lies in challenging Labour to the left, but it might make it harder to hold e.g. the two rural seats they won in 2024.

44 But they obviously face competition in that space on the left - voters are much more likely to say “Your party’ or the Liberal Democrats are a bigger threat to Labour on the left than the Green Party 44 But the Green Party have one clear advantage over Your Party - while voters split on whether they see them as a serious party (38-39) that is far higher than for Your Party 16-50 and Your Party’s splits have created a bigger opening for the Greens. AA The big test for the greens is whether they can take their considerers (who make up a bigger ratio of their overall vote than any other party) and make them into voters. Polanski’s command of the attention economy feels like an important step in doing that.

UK political class ‘poisoned by wealth’, says Zack Polanski as he sets out plan to tax assets of richest 1% - UK politics live Green party leader says a ‘tiny few have taken our wealth and power’ in address to Green party conference