Labour defeats Polanski as Green leadership pressure grows

Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali defeated Green Party leader Zack Polanski in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, winning by 3,364 votes as the result intensified pressure on him from within his party. Abdi-Wali received 12,292 votes to Polanski’s 8,928. She secured about 45% of the vote, while the Greens received 33%. The reported shares include a more precise 45.2% figure for Abdi-Wali. The result denied Polanski a seat in Parliament and marked his second unsuccessful attempt to enter it. The defeat came amid controversy over a motion passed at the Greens’ recent conference declaring Zionism to be racism. Polanski was absent from the debate while campaigning in the by-election. Vivien Lichtenstein, chair of the Jewish Greens, called on him to resign, saying his absence was a mistake and a dereliction of his duty as leader. Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas also criticised his handling of the controversy and called for the party to address its problems. Polanski said he had no plans to step down. He said he would have opposed the motion as it was passed, while also saying he agreed with its substance. He had supported amendments, but they were not adopted.