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Today in Focus

Can the Green party’s new leader galvanise the left?

Today in Focus

The Guardian

Daily News, News

4.5778 Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How does Zack Polanski plan to get people talking about the Green party? Peter Walker reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is The Guardian.

0:10.0

Today, can the Green Party's new leader galvanise the left?

0:20.0

We're at Coim Street neighbourhoodhood Community Center on the South Bank, which is part

0:26.1

children's nursery, part social hub, a very on-brand venue for the Green Party.

0:32.0

And of course, it's where we're about to find out who's going to be the next party leader.

0:47.3

For a party with only four MPs, the Greens represent a tiny fraction of the House of Commons. And usually they generate very little interest.

0:50.3

But this moment feels very different.

0:53.3

I think, you know, the campaign has had a lot more coverage,

0:56.0

that feels like there's a momentum,

0:58.0

and it feels like there's something that we're at the centre of the debate

1:01.0

about what politics is for,

1:03.0

and we need to be there to make the case

1:05.0

for all the really important issues

1:07.0

which are being ignored by the current government.

1:10.0

The Labour Party has been spiraling, sinking lower in the polls in the first year of government

1:14.9

than any other party in modern history, all the while shifting further and further to the right.

1:22.1

Many on the left are searching for a new political home.

1:25.2

And for the next leader of the Greens, this is a real opportunity to capitalise on that

1:30.1

frustration.

1:31.4

This is the first time that the old grey parties have seemed less relevant than new parties.

1:39.9

So this is really our breakpoints.

1:41.9

This is where we are able to actually put ourselves forward

...

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