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A new row has broken out in Westminster over which party truly represents workers. After a poll found Nigel Farage was the most popular leader among trade union members, Reform reached out to union general secretaries, asking them to formally affiliate with the party. Meanwhile, in an address to the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union this week, Green leader Zack Polanski railed against supermarkets for selling low-cost vegetables because, he said, that came at the cost of higher wages.
As the two-party system continues to erode, populist alternatives on the left and right are laying claim to being the workers’ party. However, The Spectator can reveal that Zack Polanski may perhaps need to get his own house in order first.
A report by Unite the Union into workplace culture within the Greens, covering the period between October 2025 and June this year, is damning about the party. It warns that ‘salaries remain considerably below market rates for comparable roles in the campaigning and political sectors’. The document also criticises a ‘continued lack of sufficient HR, operations and change-management capacity’ which has become a ‘structural problem’. Said problem, ‘delays work, weakens employment processes, leaves managers without enough support, and creates legal risk where consultation, documentation, or consistency of process is inadequate.’
