Joint MP ticket or eco-populist? Greens choose new leader

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Green Party members in England and Wales have until Saturday to decide who should be their next leader. Adrian Ramsay, who has co-led the party since 2021, is running on a joint ticket with North Herefordshire MP Ellie Chowns, after Carla Denyer announced she would be stepping down as co-leader. Ramsay and Chowns are up against London Assembly member Zack Polanski, a self-declared eco-populist who aims to connect with voters in a similar way to Reform UK’s Nigel Farage. Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

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00:00August is normally considered a quiet month in politics, but not for members of the Green

00:07Party of England and Wales. Voting opened at the start of the month for the party's 60,000-strong

00:13membership to choose who will be the next leader or joint leaders of the party. Carla Denia and

00:20Adrian Ramsey have been at the helm since 2021 and represent half of the Green's record haul of

00:26MPs from the 2024 general election. With Denia stepping down from the leadership, Ramsey is now

00:34standing on a joint ticket with Ellie Chowns, MP for North Herefordshire, a constituency which had

00:40been solidly conservative since 1910 until she won the seat last year. Both of us won seats in the

00:47general election that people previously said were unwinnable, and we overturned huge majorities.

00:53We know that green ideas are things that bring people together.

00:57Up against the Ramsey Chowns ticket is the party's current deputy leader, London Assembly member

01:04Zach Polanski, a self-declared eco-populist seeking leadership of a party that has four MPs,

01:11the same number that Reform UK has. He wants to connect with voters in a way that Nigel Farage

01:17has done, but the similarity between the two ends there.

01:21Now I despise Nigel Farage's politics, and I never want to replicate that. He's playing politics on

01:26easy mode, where he dabbles in misinformation and lies, but you can't deny he tells a really

01:31effective story that is compelling, and people want to know what he has to say. But people don't

01:36respond to spreadsheets and graphs, they respond to powerful stories. Let's tell those powerful

01:41stories that are actually based in science, based information, but do it in a way where everyone

01:45hears us.

01:46Polanski is young, just 42 years old. His modern communications method and competitive style

01:53is aimed at attracting the politically homeless and those disillusioned with Labour. This video

01:59alone has over 2 million views on X.

02:02However, Adrian Ramsey says that results in recent elections show the green message is already

02:08getting through to voters.

02:08What we have demonstrated is that the Green Party can take its message to a broad cross-section

02:15of the public. We can win in places that people told us were unwinnable, not only our seats at

02:19the general election, but 860 green councillors around the country in all corners of England

02:24and Wales doubled from where we were four years ago when I first became co-leader. We've got a

02:29successful strategy, and what that's about is not just about a pooling to a narrow section of the

02:35voter base, as our opponent seems to be doing, but it's about taking the green message to

02:40a broad section of the public, which is what's won us our record-breaking number of seats so

02:44far, and it's the successful strategy that we want to build on. Green politics won't be

02:49successful, but only appeals to a narrow base of activists. We've got to take that message

02:53to the wider public.

02:55There was a warm embrace between Polanski and Chowns ahead of a Hustings in Brighton earlier

03:00this month, although the contest has been less than friendly at times.

03:05Chowns and Ramsey fear Polanski's more left-leaning, more polarising approach could put off potential

03:11voters and undo their hard work. Polanski was visibly upset after Ramsey refused to say whether

03:17he liked his opponent during a recent joint radio interview.

03:21So, the continuity candidates or the cage-rattler? The one who'll take the fight to reform, or

03:27the pair chipping away at the red and blue walls?

03:31I think Zak has the right policies, the charisma, the media strategy, but I was also really impressed

03:37by Ellie Chowns. I thought she gave us really great answers, and she was very persuaded too,

03:43but I think now I'll be staying with Zak.

03:45Both candidates have shown they can win over new supporters. Ramsey and Chowns represent an

03:50approach that has brought the party success and so will be seen as a safe pair of hands.

03:55Polanski is more of a gamble. Does he threaten to undermine those hard-won gains over the last

04:01few years, or does the charismatic young populist bring the Greens a bigger profile, which pushes

04:06the party up another gear?

04:09Polling closes on Saturday, with the results announced on Tuesday 2nd September.

04:14One thing is certain, whether they're knocking on doors or muscling in on people's social

04:19media feeds, the Greens are yet another party that Labour and the Conservatives cannot afford

04:25to ignore.

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