00:00The war on drugs has utterly failed, but I'm not the prime minister who wants to have a special
00:04relationship with Donald Trump, a man who says he admires Vladimir Putin.
00:07Do you think the two main parties have just forgotten about young people altogether?
00:10I think they've not forgotten about them, I think they just don't care.
00:15I'm Anna van Praag and I'm interviewing the leader of the Green Party, Zach Polanski.
00:21Zach, what are the Green Party's core policies?
00:24Well, ultimately to reduce inequality, and all I mean by that is the fact that rich people
00:28have got richer than they've ever been before, and the gap is widening and widening.
00:31So we want to do things like end shareholder dividends, so to make sure we're nationalising
00:36the water companies, to make sure we're taxing multimillionaires and billionaires to spread
00:40that wealth and money around our economy, and to essentially make sure we're funding
00:45our public services.
00:46All that, as well as obviously strong action on the climate crisis.
00:49And what did you think of Keir Starmer when he said in prime minister's questions you
00:53were high on heroin, soft on Putin?
00:55I thought it was below the office of the prime minister.
00:58First of all, the war on drugs has utterly failed.
01:01We need a public health approach, which is why I talk about legalising and regulating
01:04drugs.
01:05So rather than making cheap jibes, I'd like to see the prime minister talk to organisations,
01:09particularly families who have lost children or grandchildren, to the war on drugs who are
01:13saying we need a different approach.
01:15And then in terms of Putin, Vladimir Putin is a dictator, an autocrat, but I'm not the prime
01:20minister who wants to have a special relationship with Donald Trump, a man who says he
01:24admires Vladimir Putin.
01:26Meanwhile, he shames Zelensky in the White House.
01:28So if the prime minister wants to get serious about international affairs and serious about
01:32Putin, then he probably needs to address the questions we have around his relationship
01:36with Donald Trump.
01:37I wanted to ask you, because you're so incredibly popular with young people, what is it you're
01:43offering young people that other parties aren't?
01:46And why do you think you're such a hit with young people?
01:48Well, hope for a start, I think.
01:50A liveable future will usually do it.
01:52But then we have policies such as free bus travel for under-22s, abolishing tuition fees,
01:58rank control.
01:59And actually, all the policies we have to reduce inequality, the gap between rich and poor,
02:03will impact young people more than anyone, almost more than anyone else, because it's
02:08their future that's being robbed.
02:10And do you think the two main parties have just forgotten about young people altogether?
02:13I think they've not forgotten about them.
02:14I think they just don't care.
02:15I think they care more about serving vested interests.
02:18They've taken donations from oil and gas companies, arms trade companies, private health
02:22care companies.
02:23And actually, what I think is unique about the Green Party is we don't take money from
02:27dodgy donors.
02:27We're funded by our members.
02:29And I think when that happens, you're free to worry about the futures of not just young
02:32people, but actually everyone in this country, rather than the people who pay you.
02:36Fantastic.
02:36Thank you so much, Dan.
02:37Thank you very much.
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