Zack Polanski loses Holborn and St Pancras by-election to Labour candidate

On Thursday, October 8, Green Party leader Zack Polanski suffered a 12-point defeat in the Holborn and St Pancras parliamentary by-election in London, losing to Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali by a margin of 45% to 33% as fallout from his party’s annual conference policy votes rippled through the constituency.

Holborn and St Pancras By-Election Defeat

The high-stakes electoral test in London carried major symbolic weight, as the seat was previously held by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Polanski entered the contest as a leading contender following a surge in Green Party membership. However, a late-campaign slide upended those prospects, allowing the Labour campaign to consolidate its voter base in the multicultural district and secure a decisive victory.

Sagal Abdi-Wali, an educational worker who arrived in the UK after fleeing the Somali civil war at age seven, capitalized on shifting momentum in the final stretch. Polanski’s inability to secure the seat halted the momentum of a political figure who had spent the preceding year positioning the Green Party as a rising force in British politics through an eco-populism platform.

Green Party Delegates Pass Motion Characterizing Zionism as Racism

The political turnaround stemmed directly from events at the Green Party’s annual conference in Brighton during the weekend preceding the vote. Radical delegates successfully bypassed the party’s moderate leadership by passing a motion submitted by the “Greens for Palestine” faction by 209 votes.

The adopted policy characterized Zionism—defined as support for the existence of a Jewish state in Israel—as a form of racism, while calling for a single Palestinian state and dismissing the two-state solution. Delegates additionally rejected a separate motion aimed at shielding members of “Zionist synagogues” from internal party disciplinary action.

The Movement for Progressive Judaism, representing 80 progressive synagogues across the United Kingdom, issued a sharp rebuke following the conference. “The Green Party has made antisemitism its political line and it has become a racist party,” the organization stated. The internal rift prompted four of the party’s five sitting members of parliament to vote against the motion, drawing criticism from several European green political counterparts.

Polanski Faces Scrutiny for Abstaining from Brighton Conference Votes

Polanski faced widespread scrutiny for his handling of the Brighton conference, having spent the weekend campaigning in London and absenting himself from the floor during the crucial votes. He subsequently declined to criticize the adopted resolutions, drawing criticism given his public identification as a British Jew who had previously engaged with anti-Zionist Jewish networks.

Political analysts noted that the controversy alienated moderate voters. As The Economist observed following the London defeat, Polanski “showed political cowardice by using his campaign as a pretext to abstain on this text,” adding that the party had alienated voters by shifting toward extremes.

Polling figures reflected the immediate damage, with Green Party voting intentions dropping from peaks near 20% down to approximately 11%. Political scientist Max Stafford compared Polanski’s populist appeal to that of Nigel Farage on the right, noting that the rise of hard-left and hard-right factions stemmed largely from disillusionment with traditional parties rather than inherent organizational strength.

Shifting Political Terrain Under Prime Minister Andy Burnham

Polanski’s earlier electoral traction relied heavily on positioning the Greens as the primary vehicle for Gaza advocacy and sharp criticisms of Israeli policy, drawing younger voters while pushing climate policy into the background. That strategy exploited hesitation within Keir Starmer’s administration, which recognized a Palestinian state alongside France in September 2025 but resisted sanctions against Israel.

Political dynamics shifted following Andy Burnham's arrival at Downing Street in July. Burnham acknowledged that Labour should have handled the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more decisively, while Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced sanctions targeting West Bank settlers the previous month.

Caught between Burnham’s repositioned Labour government and the increasingly explicit antisemitic stances adopted by his own party’s grassroots base, Polanski faces mounting pressure. Despite ruling out an immediate resignation, the collapse in national polling numbers leaves the Green Party leader with a rapidly narrowing political path forward.