‘We were missing in the conversation’: how Zack Polanski hit on plan to beat Reform at their own game

This time last year Polanski was barely known outside the party. Now he’s hoping for success at May’s local elections - by taking a page from Nigel Farage’s playbook

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ack Polanski finally decided to stand as the Greens’ leader, he says, after witnessing the party being eclipsed by Reform in last May’s local elections across England, and realising that British politics had changed for good.

While the Greens made yet more steady gains, Reform won nearly 700 councillors from a standing start. As deputy leader, it was Polanski’s job to speak to losing candidates to both offer consolation and ask what lessons could be learned.

“The ground game was as solid and as effective as it could be,” he told the Guardian. “Where they felt we were missing was in the national conversation. Reform was this new beast that had clearly dominated the air game. I realised we needed to match that.”