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'We're losing the argument on net zero,' Green Party warns
4 May 2025, 13:31 | Updated: 4 May 2025, 22:46
Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski speaks to Lewis Goodall
The deputy leader of the Green Party has warned that they are "losing the argument on net zero".
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Zack Polanski told LBC's Lewis Goodall on Sunday that net zero had become "a culture war".
In light of Reform UK’s burgeoning popularity - a party that rejects net zero policies - Mr Polanski said the Green Party needs to tackle climate change more actively.
"We're losing the argument on net zero", Mr Polanski told Lewis.
Mr Polanski rejected the notion that people were voting Reform due to anti-net zero sentiments, and said they were voting for the party "because the Labour government were absolutely collapsing" and due to frustration over "a two party system".
He said: "We should be talking about the cost of inaction, the flooding, the wildfire[s]."
He added that it's "very clear for years" what that "does to our economy".
"We need to get clearer about those messages, but in a way that cuts through to ordinary people."
"This is the job that the Green Party have to do right now", he told Lewis.
Mr Polanski said "far too often measures to tackle the climate get pitted against cost of living measures".
He added: "If you insulate every home in Britain that needs it, that reduces bills", which is "good for the climate and creates jobs."
He said the real problems in our society are "inequality", adding: "Poor people have got poorer over successive years and richer people are getting richer. What we need to be doing is taxing wealth and not work."
He insisted there is "a huge space in politics for a party of the left. I believe the Green Party can occupy that space."
When questioned by Lewis about whether Nigel Farage could one day become PM, Mr Polanski said this was "undoubtedly a threat".
Read more: Reform to 'wage war' against net zero 'lunacy' after local elections
He slammed the Labour government, saying "copying Reform is not going to help things. If people want to vote for Reform, they'll vote for Nigel Farage".
He added that the Green Party's mission over the next few years is to ensure Labour are "more scared of losing votes and seats to the Green Party than they are to Reform".
Watch Again: Lewis Goodall is joined by Reform UK's Dame Andrea Jenkyns | 04/05/25
Mr Polanski criticised Farage - whose Reform UK party made sweeping gains in local elections - for "stoking the politics of hate and division" - claiming "he does not have the answers".
He hit out at comments made by Dame Andrea, who was elected as Reform's mayor of Greater Lincolnshire this week.
Dame Andrea earlier came under fire for saying in her victory speech that she would house illegal migrants in tents, rather than in hotels.
In an LBC interview with Lewis, Dame Andrea maintained that Britain has become a "soft touch" for migrants.
"This is taxpayers 'money and it should actually be tents - not rent...
"And British people are charitable, Lewis, but they're struggling themselves now... People are struggling. So why should the British people be putting people in hotels out of their own pocket?"
Asked by Lewis if she thought child migrants should also be put in tents, she refused to say.
Mr Polanski said Dame Andrea's comments represented an absence of "compassion and humanity to people who might be fleeing for their lives".
