No fear, no loathing but plenty of hope on the Greens campaign trail in Calderdale
Green Party leader Zack Polanski chats exclusively to The Calderdale Lead
Hello and welcome to The Calderdale Lead.
I hope you’re all well and have had a cracking start to the week! This edition is slightly later than normal but we hope we can make up for that by what we’ve got for you!
Because… in today’s edition, we’ve got an exclusive chat with Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
Polanski was in Halifax on Sunday to speak to local activists and do some good old-fashioned door-knocking ahead of the council elections in May.
As far as I’m aware, The Calderdale Lead were the only media outlet in attendance and certainly the only ones to be given a (quick) sit down interview with the man himself.
Find out what his hopes are below.
Plus, we’ve got the usual news in brief in the Calderdale Digest!
Don’t forget at the minute we’re running a special paid subscription offer with 50% off an annual sub. Just click here for more details.
So, on with the news…
Calderdale Digest
📵 Calder Valley MP Josh Fenton-Glynn is one of more than 60 Labour MPs to add his signature to a letter urging the Prime Minister to bring in a social media ban for under-16s.
The letter urges Sir Keir Starmer to follow the example of Australia, which brought in a ban in December. Several other countries are said to be considering similar laws.
Mr Fenton-Glynn said: “The evidence is becoming increasingly clear that the pressure and emotional toll that social media is having a negative impact on our young people and we should do what we can to protect them from that.”
Both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems have voiced that they would ban social media (or similar) sites for under-16s and Labour peers are set to force the issue when they’re expected to vote this week on a cross-party amendment that would implement an Australia-style ban in the UK.
❎ Almost half of Calderdale voters who currently choose to vote by post are reminded their preference may be about to lapse.
Councillors heard that following legislation in 2022, postal voters who applied for their postal vote before January 30, 2024, will have this preference removed on January 31 this year if they do not make a re-application to extend it.
After that date they will have to go through the whole re-application process again – although information on how to do this will be supplied to them.
Governance and Business Committee councillors were told the council’s Electoral Registration Officer has written to all postal voters affected, providing details of how to re-apply if they want to keep on voting by post.
Additionally, email reminders and social media posts have been and will continue to be posted.
Councillors heard that as of early January, approximately 40 per cent of postal voters who are affected have yet to re-apply to extend.
What will happen next is that on February 2, the Electoral Registration Officer must notify electors that their postal vote has been removed.
Information about applying for a postal vote completely afresh will be included with this, and information will also be included on poll cards that will be sent nearer to the time of the all-out elections when Calderdale goes to the polls on May 7.
It will be the first “all out” election in 21 years and follows a Boundary Commission review that will add an extra ward, in a part of Halifax, to the council.
Polanski brings message of hope as Greens hit campaign trail in Halifax
By Andrew Greaves
Imagine a political party saying their vision wasn’t to win every seat up for grabs and take control of the council.
Imagine setting - when the whole council is up for election - a modest target of tripling their current number of seats to nine.
This doesn’t feel like the way politics is done. But under new(ish) leader Zack Polanski, this is the plan for the Greens in Calderdale.
Polanski, elected as leader in September to great fanfare (and the odd baffling story about breast enlargement via hypnosis), was in the borough on Sunday to spell out his vision to local activists.
And it’s fair to say his speech - which touched on the national and international as well as local issues - was like a shot in the arm for the local branch which has grown its membership by more than 300% in the last year alone.
Polanski was clear in his speech to members: the vision of winning nine seats wasn’t a lack of ambition but a realistic target that would help them build for the next election. And the next election. And the next election. Can you see where he’s going?
He said: “People will sometimes say to me, and I get it, why are we not being more ambitious? Why are we not talking about leading the council or definitely being the leader of the opposition? That is exactly where we want to get to.
“But we also know we need to do things in stages and going from three to nine is a big step and that's a big jump. But as soon as you're at nine, that's exactly when at the next set of local elections, you are talking about leading the opposition or indeed even leading the council. So you're on the exact right trajectory here and need to keep it up.”
Given the drizzle that was enveloping Calderdale as I drove over on Sunday morning, you’d be forgiven for thinking spirits may be dampened.
But there was a buzz in the entrance atrium of Halifax’s fantastic Orange Box youth club that felt like the start of something. Or at the very least a ‘restart’ of something.
Forget socks and sandals, forget hugging trees, forget all the other lazy stereotypes that have been bandied around about the Greens in the past - this was ground zero of a political movement ready to make its mark.
Local party leader Coun Martin Hey, one of three Green councillors in Calderdale, whipped the crowd up into a frenzy, cheekily walking off and starting again when the reception for him taking the mic fell short of expectations.
His fear was that the welcome for his national party leader might hit the same bum note.
He needn’t have worried - the 100+ activists packed into the room whooped and hollered to welcome Polanski to the stage and those same people would spend the next 20-odd minutes hanging on every word of their leader.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Polanski’s election last year, interest in the Greens has soared.
In Halifax, he was keen to talk about the national and international agenda and how the Greens would tackle issues such as immigration, the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine and how to tackle Donald Trump.
But, most importantly for those gathered, he also talked about the importance of connecting with local people and their issues. Using social media to excite but then good old-fashioned door-knocking to seal the deal.
“I'm not shy of social media, those of you on social media might have noticed that. But I do know we don't win elections on social media. What we can do on social media is inspire people, excite people, give people a sense of solidarity, all really important things to do, but actually elections are won on the doorstep,” he said.
“They're won by going door to door and having those conversations and finding out what people care about and then matching those things with what the Green Party care about and ultimately making sure that this isn't about a national party leader, it's not about people performing on media or TV, it's about democracy.
“It's about people turning up, being heard, even when we disagree with them, and working out to make better solutions because that's exactly how we can make sure that we improve Calderdale and people have more democracy in Calderdale, and that's how we'll improve Yorkshire and it's how we'll change our country.”
The cost of living crisis - and how taxing the wealthy could level the field a little - received a huge applause, as did Polanski confirming he’d never taken a penny “from private healthcare, from oil and gas, from arms trade companies, from gambling”.
He said: “Yorkshire is a place that has been badly affected by deep inequality. Rich people are getting richer and richer, and more people are getting poorer.
“They tell us that there’s no wealth in this country. What they mean is there’s no wealth for working-class communities, for people in the North. There’s no wealth for disabled people, or people who are unemployed.
“The wealth is being siphoned upwards to the super rich. The answer is to tax the rich and to redistribute wealth and power around our communities.”
Afterwards I caught up with Coun Hey who was beaming from ear to ear with how the event went. He’s clearly someone who, I’ve come to witness over the last year or so, cares passionately not just about his own politics but the people he serves in his Northowram and Shelf ward.
And he’s keen to echo the message from Polanski that listening is the key: “The national media still aren't fully covering us—Zack's done a great job, but they’re still not fully covering our views on, say, what Trump's doing in Greenland at the moment.
“So that ground campaign, saying to people we're here, that we're present, we want to win, we will represent them is important. But also, the other thing I said is that people want to be listened to, and that's what we want Green Party people to do; we want us to be good listeners and not just say what we think.”
Coun Hey confirmed the Greens had nine targeted seats for Calderdale’s first all-out elections in more than 20 years but that they would be standing candidates across the borough.
“We're going to stand candidates everywhere; we're going to give people the chance to vote Green across the whole of Calderdale. So it's a great opportunity.
“In the past it has been incremental change, whereas we know from some of the all-out elections down south a couple of years ago that the Greens can go from very few seats to actually taking decisions. So we've got to be ready for that as well.”
The elections take place on May 7.
Exclusive: Green Party leader Zack Polanski chats to The Calderdale Lead
By Andrew Greaves
“That wasn’t set up,” Zack Polanski is quick to tell me with an easy chuckle after he waves off the mother of a young Calderdale Green Party activist who accosts him as he’s ushered into the side room that’s been unlocked especially for our quick interview.
The woman, who is keen to apologise for not being able to stay and help with the door-knocking, tells him that he’s given her a sense of hope again and thanks him for helping to engage people in politics.
I get the impression it’s not the first time he’s been warmly grabbed like that on his mini tour of the north. In fact, in his speech to members he reveals he took a short break in Hebden Bridge with his partner Richie Bryan just after he was elected thinking it would be a place he could walk around unrecognised. How wrong he was!
I ask him whether he feels his personality has helped ignite movement, similar - I suggest - to the way Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and a previous darling of the Left Jeremy Corbyn has done.
But I get the impression Polanski isn’t totally convinced: “I think that is important to inspire, to excite, and to make people appreciate their own agency. Then we’re into stage two now, which is the much more important bit: movement building.
“In fact, the last thing I said in the room was that I’m much more interested in what happens after I’ve left the room. What does the conversation look like? What does the organizing look like?
“Sure, it’s inspired by the things that I’ve said, but much more importantly, it’s informed by people’s real experience in Calderdale. I’m a politician from London; I don’t know what people in Calderdale need or want.
“What I do know, though, is that when people get together without vested interests and have conversations about what they need and want, it will be for people and not profit. That’s what the party stands for.”
Ah, the party. Most people’s view of the Greens is a caricature of what the party actually is - tree hugging isn’t necessary in the modern version you know.
I get the sense that Polanski is both comfortable and respectful of its past and ready to hold dear the principles of which it was founded and thrived whilst keen to move it to a ground where it can really affect change.
“I think that’s the difference between your values and your policies. Our values are totally inflexible. We have red lines on racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia—that’s never going to change.
“In terms of the policies, they’re flexible because they’re voted on by the membership. It’s fully democratic: one member, one vote. I would reflect, though, that over the previous decades of the Green Party, they’ve always pointed in a similar direction, which is for people and planet, and that’s never going to change.
“In terms of the detail of how it’s done, then yes, it absolutely needs to be flexible because governments change and the world is changing. I think it’s always important that you’re as up-to-date as possible rather than trying to operate in a world that’s gone.”
Back to that buzzword that politicians like to spout - listening. Every party says it’s keen to listen to the electorate, to find out what those that vote really want and need.
Polanski knows that merely standing on a doorstep and saying the Greens hear the concerns of the occupant is meaningless unless you back it up with action.
And he said: “Our candidates and councillors spend a lot of time door-knocking, and they noticeably do it outside of election time, too. So, it's not just an activity that happens to ask for people's votes.
“When they go to council meetings, they've genuinely spoken to people on the doorstep so they are taking those voices into the council chamber. I would always ask people to judge us or consider us based on our record of action and delivery and where we're going in the future.
“I don't think anyone should trust a political party unconditionally, including the Green Party. Political parties aren't like football teams where you pick your team and just have to stick with them through the good and the bad. I think it’s a transactional relationship where you should always make sure they’re being held accountable and that they’re transparent.”
And with that he’s gone. Back into the atrium where he’s accosted a couple more times before being ushered away to start doing the thing you sense he genuinely does love to do - door-knocking and speaking to the people that matter most: the voter.
That’s it for this bumper edition - thanks for reading!
We’ll be back on Sunday so until then, enjoy your week!
Andrew
The bit about tripling seats to nine instead of shooting for control really resonates. I've seen too many local campaigns crash by overpromising. Building through authentic door knocking while having modest realistic targets is how you actualy create lasting infrastructure. I worked on a council campaign once that went from 2 to 7 seats just showing up consistenly, then took 15 four years later.