The New Statesman.

The Green Party made impressive gains in the last general election, and now they're choosing a new leader.

I'm Anusha Kellyan, and this is a special edition of the New Statesman podcast,

the first broadcasted leadership debate between the candidates hoping to lead the Green Party.

The battle to lead the Greens is underway. Campaining has begun and it's a contest between the

joint ticket of two of the four Green Party MPs, current co-leader Adrian Ramsey and

Ellie Chowns, and the deputy leader and London Assembly member, Zach Polanski.

Voting will take place over August and will find out the results on the 2nd of September.

So will the Greens roll the dice on the more activist campaign of the self-professed eco-populist

Zach Polanski

or put their faith in two of their sitting MPs,

who say they want to further professionalise the party

to tackle the tough challenge of winning more seats under First Pass the Post.

We've invited both Adrian and Zach to the studio

for the first leaders' debate of the campaign so far.

We should say we asked Ellie too, but as she's running jointly with Adrian,

they decided it was fairer just to send one of their co-candidates.

Adrian and Zach, welcome to the New Statesman podcast,

and thanks so much both of you for coming in.

Thanks for having us.

So before we get into the meet of our debate,

can I ask each of you to tell me a bit about yourselves and make your pitch for being elected the next Green Party leader?

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