Zac Polanski has called on the government to break up the UK-Israel trade deal following the Israeli attack on Lebanon.
Polanski called on Keir Starmer to impose sanctions on the US over the use of UK airspace and said sanctions should be imposed on Israel after accusing the nation of “behaving completely uncontrolled”.
He said at the launch of the Green Party’s local election campaign in London, “What would it take for this government to actually impose tougher sanctions on Israel?”
“It is outrageous that Israel still enjoys diplomatic and trade privileges from the international community. As a Green Party, we are calling on this government to impose even stronger sanctions, withdraw the UK-Israel trade deal and end the genocide.”
Polanski said that the Prime Minister’s statement that Britain was “not involved” in the conflict with Iran was not “entirely truthful”, as its bases had been used to assist US bombers attacking Iran.
“We have to separate the British military and the US military, ban the US from using our airspace,” he said.
Asked about the economic cost of ending the trade deal with Israel, Polanski said Britain should not “cost people’s lives”.
Polanski called Trump an “increasingly unpredictable and dangerous man”, and said that recent events have “vindicated” his position on the American presidency. “Just a few days ago he said he wanted to wipe out a civilization,” he said.
The Green leader used the press conference to criticize Labor on housing, saying Green-run councils would focus on building new council houses and would “stand up” to property developers who oppose building affordable homes.
Labor has promised to build 1.5 million new homes in England by the end of the decade, but developers have said the target is too optimistic. Housing Secretary Steve Reed has acknowledged that rapid growth will be needed to achieve this.
“We have a housing crisis, but we also have an affordability crisis,” Polanski said. “And really it’s about making sure we build the right home in the right place at the right price. And what we see too often with Labor councils is building luxury, unaffordable buildings that no one is ever going to live in.”
Labor accused Green Party councilors of trying to block 42,000 homes across the country since 2018 and said they were not delivering social rented housing in areas where they were in power.
Reid said: “There is nothing progressive about keeping Londoners’ families in temporary accommodation. If you are unwilling to build the homes Londoners need, you are choosing to keep them there.”
Polanski said this was “complete nonsense” figure, but added: “If a development is being blocked because it’s an unaffordable luxury development, I’m proud of any Green Party council doing that.”
Green Party Hackney mayoral candidate Zoe Garbett said she would pressure London Mayor Sadiq Khan to impose rent controls. When Polanski was asked how local officials could not impose rent controls, he said it was not “some radical, wild policy”.
Polanski said, “The strange thing is that we have spent over £70 billion on welfare in the last five years, which is money going straight from the government into the pockets of private landlords, as opposed to building social, social homes or council homes, which can have rents capped or rents directly controlled.”
