Wednesday briefing: How Zack Polanski’s populist takeover could change the Green party forever

<p>In today’s newsletter: The leftwing candidate crushed rivals Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns. Will his leadership take the party to new heights – or risk alienating hard-won moderates?</p><p></p><p>Good morning. After a bruising leadership contest, Zack Polanski didn’t just win the Green party vote, he cleaned up. His “eco-populist” platform – which borrowed directly from Nigel Farage’s playbook – earned him 85% of votes.</p><p>Polanski defeated Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, winning 20,411 votes relative to their 3,705 in a ballot of party members. The contest exposed deeper questions about Green party identity and how it positions itself amid a rapidly shifting political landscape.</p><p><em><strong>UK news</strong></em> | Britain’s long-term borrowing costs have hit their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/sep/02/rachel-reeves-uk-borrowing-costs-budget-bond-yields">highest level in 27 years</a>, intensifying the pressure on the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, before the autumn budget.</p><p><em><strong>Spain</strong></em> | Europe and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/03/sanchez-europes-response-to-war-in-gaza-has-been-a-failure">western countries’ double standards</a> over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza threaten to undermine their global standing, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has warned.</p><p><em><strong>Brazil</strong></em> | Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and seven of his allies, including four senior members of the military, have gone on trial for allegedly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/02/jair-bolsonaro-faces-justice-over-alleged-attempt-to-usurp-brazilian-democracy">attempting to stage a coup</a>.</p><p><em><strong>China</strong></em> | Xi Jinping warned <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/03/china-military-parade-xi-jinping-appears-with-vladimir-putin-kim-jong-un">the world faced a choice</a> between peace or war as he capped a week of diplomatic grandstanding with China’s largest-ever military parade, flanked by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.</p><p><em><strong>UK news</strong></em> | Esther Ghey, the mother of the murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, and the Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet are calling on Keir Starmer to<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/sep/03/brianna-ghey-kate-winslet-smartphone-schools-campaign"> legally ban smartphones in schools</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/03/wednesday-briefing-how-zack-polanskis-populist-takeover-could-change-the-green-party-forever">Continue reading...</a>

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