‘I thought politics was a dirty thing’ – Zack Polanski on his ‘eco-populist’ vision for the Green party

He’s worked as an actor and a hypnotherapist – and has even been arrested. The Greens’ leadership challenger has had an unconventional route into politics and he’s ready to take on Labour and ReformBy coincidence, I meet Zack Polanski, the 42-year-old deputy leader of the Green party, in a cafe on the same bridge – Waterloo – where he was first arrested for his part in an Extinction Rebellion protest. “I was leading the charge on the very first day of the very first rally,” he begins. He has a dewy, wide-eyed look and quite a nerdy delivery, very enthusiastic, with no side to it. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you have, you’re all in

Tory energy spokesman claims UN climate experts are ‘biased’

The Conservative party’s energy spokesperson has attacked leading climate scientists as biased and claimed Kemi Badenoch could take the UK out of the Paris climate agreement.Andrew Bowie, the acting shadow secretary for energy, told the Guardian that the target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – passed into law by Theresa May – was “arbitrary” and “not based on science”.He also indicated that the UK’s participation in the 2015 Paris climate agreement was up for reconsideration in the party’s ongoing review of key policies. The only other country to have withdrawn from the agreement is the US, twice, under Donald Trump.Bowie said: “We are not climate deniers and while we believe in getting to net zero, what we shouldn’t do is be hamstrung by arbitrary targets such as a date of 2050, which was concocted simply because it was a good end point as a date

Labour to defend aid cuts, claiming UK’s days as ‘a global charity’ are over

The days of viewing the UK as “a global charity” are over, the new development minister, Jenny Chapman, will tell MPs, in remarks that are likely to prove a controversial defence of the large-scale aid cuts she is about to oversee.Lady Chapman replaced Anneliese Dodds in February after Dodds refused to back Keir Starmer’s decision to cut the UK aid budget from 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3% in 2027.The move will take £6bn out of the 2023 aid budget of £15

Counter-terrorism police investigate fires at properties and car linked to Keir Starmer

Counter-terrorism police are investigating three separate fires after a blaze broke out at a home owned by Keir Starmer in the early hours of Monday morning.London fire brigade attended the property in Kentish Town after the fire was reported shortly after 1.30am. The door was damaged but nobody was hurt.The prime minister, who resides with his family in his official residence in Downing Street, is reportedly letting out the four-bedroom home

Starmer accused of echoing far right with ‘island of strangers’ speech

Keir Starmer has defended his plans to curb net migration after an angry backlash from MPs, businesses and industry to a speech in which he said the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers” without tough new policies.The rhetoric was likened by some critics to the language of Enoch Powell, and the prime minister was accused of pandering to the populist right by insisting he intended to “take back control of our borders” and end a “squalid chapter” of rising inward migration.Some politicians claimed that his words had echoed Powell’s notorious “rivers of blood” speech, which imagined a future multicultural Britain where the white population “found themselves made strangers in their own country”.When asked to respond to accusations he had adopted Powell’s rhetoric, Starmer told the Guardian: “Migrants make a massive contribution to the UK, and I would never denigrate that.”But in words that could further enrage his critics, Starmer insisted that new migrants must “learn the language and integrate” once in the UK

Labour MP says Starmer’s ‘island of strangers’ warning over immigration mimics scaremongering of far right – as it happened

The leftwing Labour MP Nadia Whittome has criticised Keir Starmer for saying this morning Britain risked becoming “an island of strangers” without fair immigration controls. (See 9.53am.) She posted these on Bluesky.The step-up in anti-migrant rhetoric from the government is shameful and dangerous