ZACK POLANSKI, THE leader of the Green party in the UK, has said he will stay in the role after he failed to win the seat vacated by former prime minister Keir Starmer. 

Polanski told Sky News he would stay on as leader after coming second to Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, securing one-third of the vote compared to her 45% in the Holborn and St Pancras constituency in London.

Abdi-Wali, who arrived in Britain as a child refugee in the 1990s after fleeing war in Somalia and now leads the local council, was declared the winner in the early hours of Friday.

Abdi-Wali said her victory was a testament to the success of diversity in the borough.

“I hope this moment also says something about who gets to belong, for people who look like me, I hope they see themselves reflected in this place and know that their path too belongs here. This is Camden, and this is Britain.”

The byelection was also an early test of Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s popularity.

Labour has held the seat continuously since its creation in 1983, and the contest was a two-horse race with the Greens, which have enjoyed a surge in membership since Polanski became its leader in September last year.

A former Green leader had suggested Polanski could face a threat to his leadership if he lost.

Caroline Lucas, the three-time former Green Party leader who was its first MP said people should “see what happens in the coming days and weeks” when asked about his future on BBC Newsnight.

Polanski told Sky News that fighting for the seat had not been a mistake, saying he was happy to stand in elections.

“I don’t think it was a mistake at all, I think it has been an opportunity to present Green Party values, to talk about rent controls, tackling the climate crisis, nationalising Thames Water, it’s been amazing to speak to people in Holborn and St Pancras, I’ve really enjoyed that.”

Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali after being declared the winner of the Holborn and St Pancras by-election Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Zionism motion

Since becoming leader of the party, Polanski has garnered plenty of attention for his slick social media use and focus on the cost of living, but going into the byelection the British media’s attention was on the party’s foreign policy positions. 

Polanski, who is Jewish and avidly pro-Palestinian, was barred from Israel this month after his party backed a motion to define Zionism as racism.

The 43-year-old former actor and hypnotherapist has moved the party leftwards and made it staunchly pro-Palestinian, capitalising on anger at the Labour government’s stance on the genocide in Gaza under Starmer.

Israel’s foreign ministry announced on Sunday that Polanski was barred from the country after Green Party members backed a motion saying Zionism would be “treated as any other form of racism”.

The text also voiced support for the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine”.

It was widely condemned by mainstream UK parties, British Jewish groups and Israel’s government, which called it “a clear antisemitic text”.

A Green Party spokesperson said they were “disappointed” with the election result but celebrated a “huge swing in one of Labour’s safest seats”.

They said voters had “delivered a message” that “they want real change” on issues including climate change, soaring rent prices and “justice for Palestinians”.

With reporting from AFP