Polanski Rows Back on Open Borders.

Zack Polanski has stated he sees himself as the left's answer to Nigel Farage. His stated goal is to replace the Labour Party as the major British Party on the left. Since Mr. Polanski won the leadership of the party, the Green Party has soared in popularity. The Greens are seeing double figures in the polls, putting other parties on notice, especially the Labour Party.

For many left-wing Labour supporters and MPs, the current government of Sir Keir Starmer is too right-wing. So Zack Polanski is the man that many want to jump into bed with (not literally, hopefully). They think he represents what the Labour Party has always been about - the working class, the poor, those who get overlooked. These are the people who backed Jeremy Corbyn and his policies when he was Labour leader.

Mr. Corbyn formed "YourParty" with Labour rebel Zara Sultana. This party was going to be the alternative to Labour that left-wingers were dreaming about. However, Zara Sultana said the party was a boys' club where she felt shut out. There then followed a rift between Corbyn and Sultana. They did patch things up and hold their first conference, and both are still very much at the forefront of the party. However, their relationship remains contentious. The party still known as YourParty has yet to formalise a name. Also, membership structures and leadership models are ongoing. Whether with such fractured co-leadership problems between Sultana and Corbyn, the party will garner support remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the Green Party, as far as the left or the voter curious are concerned, is the party in the ascendancy. And Zack Polanski is reaping the rewards of a Labour Party on the right and so far, the failure of YourParty.

The Green Party has a Jewish man, with Zack Polanski as leader and two deputy leaders. One is a Muslim man and the other a Christian woman. So, as far as faith goes, the party is showing a united front, showing people of different faiths can work together (though Polanski is not a practising Jew). There is a lot to like about Polanski. His veganism, his environmental and animal rights credentials, Universal Basic Income, taxing the rich to the hilt, etc. Two things that put me off him, however, are his pro-immigrant "Refugees welcome" and his pro-LGBTQ stance. However, there is also the hypocrisy. When he accuses Nigel Farage of Reform UK of being a hypocrite when he says, "I am a man of the people". Referring to Farage's middle-class stockbroker background. The fact that Mr. Farrage attended Dulwich College, a private educational institute and not a state one. However, Mr. Polanski should put his hand in front of his mouth when he talks about understanding the working class. He, too, is from a Manchester middle-class background. A former actor with a controversial career as a mental health therapist. In which he allegedly told women who attended his clinic that they could make their breasts bigger by imagining them.

As mentioned, one major attack on Zack Polanski by his enemies is that, in power, he would throw open Britain's borders and allow the world in. However, speaking to Sky News, he said no Green Party manifesto had ever stood on a platform advocating throwing Britain's border open to every incomer in a general election. Mr. Polanski said allowing everyone in was impractical in a world full of turmoil. He said people used this argument as an attack on his credibility. What Mr. Polanski has argued for when he visited the demolition of the jungle in 2016 (a name for a camp of refugees in France) is a controlled, managed, a compassionate policy on migrants.

So is Polanski rowing back on the much vaunted Green Party of "All refugees welcome"? Or is he seeing that even amongst some Green voters, allowing absolutely everybody in is not practical or realistic? Or is he being genuinely truthful when he says the Greens never advocated for open borders? Only Zack Polanski knows what he is talking about, or does he?