Zack Polanski Green Party conference speech key points: Emergency rent controls and Palestine Action

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Zack Polanski called for emergency rent controls and an end to the ban on supporting Palestine Action during his first leader’s speech at Green Party conference.

He could not directly mention the upcoming Holborn and St Pancras by-election, in which he is hoping to overturn a large Labour majority in the seat previously held by ex-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, because of broadcasting rules.

However, he repeatedly referred to issues impacting the north London constituency during his address in Brighton on Friday.

The London Assembly member claimed Green Party electoral victories push Labour towards a more progressive governing agenda.

Here are five key points from his speech:

The government should put in place a “three year emergency break on rising rents”, Mr Polanski said.

“For too long, landlords have been able to hike prices way beyond wages,” he told delegates.

“Leaving renters forced to meet the cost to keep a roof over their heads. Cutting back and back and back on everything else.

“It’s not just renters who lose out – it’s taxpayers too. Over the next year, more than a third of the money that the DWP will spend on housing benefits will go to private landlords. Subsidising extortionate rents.

“That’s £13.4 billion pounds that could be spent building new council homes. Repairing our creaking housing stock. Bringing homes lost through right to buy back into public hands.

“That’s why today I’m calling on this government to put in place a three year emergency brake on private rents.

“No rent rises above CPI, wage growth or 2% – whichever is lower. No sudden hikes. No evictions under the guise of rent rises. No more uncertainty, no more fear.

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“That emergency brake would give renters vital breathing space.”

Mr Polanski called for the Government to end the ban on Palestine Action, which was proscribed a terror organisation by Labour last year.

Dozens of people were arrested at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday when they protested outside in support of the organisation.

Mr Polanski said: “Greens, we stand with one voice now as we say: Drop the charges. End the Genocide.

“Deproscribe Palestine Action. Politics is about priorities, isn’t it? So let me be plain about ours.

“If you’re at the sharp end of intimidation and violence - we’re with you. If you wake up in the morning praying for an economic miracle - we’ve got a plan to help you.

“And if you fight for justice and peace for everyone across the world – we have got your back.”

The Green Party would impose sweeping wealth taxes to end “rip off Britain”, Mr Polanski said.

“Tax the very richest. Bring our public services back into public hands. And end rip off Britain,” he told delegates.

“That’s the message that helped us win record numbers of votes. Because we are sure about who we stand up for.

“And crucially, we’re sure who we’re standing up against.

“Even when there are rooms full of people who disagree with us, and often there are, we will go into the lion’s den and stand for our principles. Or as the young people tell me, stand on business.”

The Green Party has “held the worst instincts of the Labour Government in check”, Mr Polanski claimed.

He told his members “vote Green and watch Labour move”, as he argued that it was pressure from his party that had caused Labour to reconsider whether to approve new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea at Rosebank and Jackdaw.

Recent Green Party election wins had “changed this country” over the course of a “wild” year, Mr Polanski added.

The Green leader reflected on results, including “the first Green breakthrough on the Senedd” in Cardiff Bay, “and a little small matter of our first ever win at a Westminster by-election” in Gorton and Denton, which was won by Hannah Spencer.

Speaking at his party’s conference in Brighton, Zack Polanski said: “Through our sustained pressure and our historic wins, we have held the worst instincts of the Labour Government in check.

“And we have started to move them in the right direction but we can’t wait for them to get there on their own.”

The Green Party will continue to protest new British oil and gas fields after recent brutal heatwaves.

“This summer's fires should have been the final nail in the coffin for new oil and gas,” Mr Polanski said.

“We know that drilling for new fossil fuels won’t bring down bills. We know it won’t make us more secure. And we know that it locks us into a hotter, more dangerous climate.

“And we say no. No more fossil fuel extraction - and a clean energy revolution, now.”