LONDON — Voting for members of local councils usually involves debates about filling potholes and regularizing bin collections. This year, however, geopolitics thousands of miles away will shape how Brits cast their ballots.
The incumbent, unpopular center-left Labour government faces a challenge from the left in Thursday’s local elections in numerous urban centers, including many of London’s 32 boroughs, by the newly energized Greens. Reform is targeting the Tories in outer London.
Led by self-described ‘eco-populist’ Zack Polanski, the party’s poll ratings have been boosted by his condemnation of American and Israeli actions in the Middle East, most recently over the Iran war, but most vocally over Gaza.
But Polanski is now facing criticism from Labour over his comments focused on police brutality after two Jewish men were stabbed in London last week, and revelations about antisemitic comments made by Green candidates standing across England and Wales.
The campaign back-and-forth on the left comes as the Reform Party, led by Nigel Farage — himself dogged by allegations of past Holocaust-baiting as a schoolboy, though he has presented himself lately as a friend of Israel — looks to capture momentum on the right. Farage’s comments were from the 1970s, and he has said he “never directly racially abused anybody.”
Rival Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has also been vocal about condemning antisemitism and visiting Jewish neighborhoods.
Vetting failures
Less than 48 hours before voters go to the polls, Labour circulated a dossier claiming 25 Green candidates have a history of antisemitism and extremism after making comments justifying or downplaying attacks against the Jewish community. Five candidates referred to “false flag” attacks committed by Israel.
Labour also published a video Monday saying antisemitic comments made by Green candidates out loud. “This needs to be called out,” the party’s X caption said.
The content is striking given Labour’s own uncomfortable history of antisemitism. The party was referred to the Equality and Human Rights Commission watchdog in 2019, which found it responsible for “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination” under former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Two Green candidates in London were arrested last week over alleged antisemitic social media posts, and the party is investigating more than 30 candidates for prejudice against Jews.
Former party leader Caroline Lucas, the first Green MP to be elected, condemned comments by a handful of Green Party candidates as “totally unacceptable,” and said they require “immediate action,” in an X post Tuesday afternoon.
“There’s no place for antisemitism or any hate speech in the party,” she added.
Though some candidates have been suspended, Polanski, who is himself Jewish, admitted more work needs to be done.
“What I’ve already committed to doing is making sure that we have a standardized vetting process in future,” he told the BBC Wednesday, adding the party must “also make sure that we have compulsory training of all our candidates to make it clear that antisemitism is completely unwelcome in the Green Party as it is in society.”
Polanski, however, also called for antisemitism to not be conflated with criticizing the Israeli government: “That’s something Benjamin Netanyahu does regularly, and as a Jewish person that makes me feel less safe.”
Adequately screening candidates is a problem that has also afflicted the Greens’ right-wing rivals Reform UK as both insurgent movements welcome members keen to build their presence in new areas — without fully checking their social media history.
Threats at home
Antisemitic comments from Green candidates come against a deeply alarming domestic context.
Jewish properties, including synagogues, and ambulances belonging to the Hatzola community service in London have been repeatedly vandalized and set on fire since March. Prime Minister Keir Starmer suggested Iran may bear responsibility, and warned Tuesday it “will not be tolerated.”
The government has committed millions in additional funding to protect Jewish communities after the two Jewish men were stabbed last week in Golders Green. A 45-year-old man, Essa Suleiman, has been charged with attempted murder.
Polanski criticized the Metropolitan Police for its use of force to detain Suleiman, who was shocked with a Taser and kicked in the head as officers tried retrieving a knife from him.
Labour Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told Times Radio Wednesday the Green leader’s comments are “revealing” and “speaks volumes,” claiming Polanski had failed the “test of leadership” to protect the public.
But Polanski defended himself, despite earlier apologizing for sharing a social media post attacking Scotland Yard.
“Two things can be true at the same time: officers are incredibly brave and they run towards scenes of crimes that most people, including myself, would want to run away from,” he told the BBC.
“At the same time … I was also traumatized by seeing someone handcuffed and repeatedly kicked in the head,” he said, adding: “The sign of a compassionate society is how we treat people, even people who have done horrific things.”
A party spokesperson later clarified that the man had not been handcuffed. “Zack misspoke and meant that the man was on the floor.”
Building community cohesion
The Green leader said he agreed that the Jewish community “is not safe right now,” and said relations could be improved by promoting “community cohesion and community building.”
Nonetheless, he said events in the Middle East would influence local contests.
“Lots of people feel very strongly, both about their local services as they should do and feel equally strongly about the fact that there’s a reprehensible genocide happening,” he said.
The extra scrutiny facing the Greens in recent days does appear to be having an impact — and not in the direction Polanski wants.
A YouGov poll published Wednesday of 2,377 British adults conducted on May 4 and 5 found 47 percent had an unfavorable view of Polanski — his worst rating since becoming leader, and up eight points from 39 percent in a previous poll on April 28 and 29. Just 22 percent had a favorable view.
The pollster noted negativity towards the Green leader rose the most among voters who backed rival parties at the 2024 election, including the Lib Dems and the Tories.
Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future think tank, said: “Green candidates who campaign on Gaza seek expressive support for issues that local councillors have limited influence over.” Muslim voters concerned about Gaza are not one monolithic group but instead fragmented by generation and geography, he also noted.
“National leaders and local candidates share the responsibility to make clear the boundaries between politics, protest and prejudice — and accept the responsibility of local government to serve residents of all ethnicities and faiths even in politically polarized times,” he added.
