Labour party of ‘big money’, claims Greens’ Polanski as he says he will run for Starmer’s seat – UK politics live

Here is the Camden New Journal’s story.

Zack Polanski has confirmed that he wants to be the Green party’s candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection in an interview with the Camden New Journal – the local paper where Keir Starmer also announced he was standing down as the constituency’s MP.

He said:

I have lived and worked in this community over many years, I know it well and I love it

It represents so many of the things that make London so special. I am so excited by the prospect of representing this place in parliament.

Holborn and St Pancras has everything that’s the best of our country and so much potential.

But for too long now it’s been held back by governments who have failed to make the changes to improve people’s lives.

We know that the Greens can win here, and by electing me, voters will have someone who will always fight their corner – never scared of big donors or the party whip. Too often Labour has stood up for corporations and big money. I will stand up for people struggling to pay their bills.

Starmer had a majority of ۱۱.۵۷۲ at the last election and polling figures, and the results of the May local elections, suggest Labour should win the byelection. But Polanski has shown he is a formidable campaigner, and with him as the Green party’s candidate, Labour will face a much tougher challenge holding the seat.

Polanski said he would put “making life more affordable” at the heart of his campaign.

It’s a clear fight between Labour and the Green party. We know that people are struggling – that the things we used to afford are increasingly out of reach – and this is a chance to send a very clear message that we won’t sit by as we get poorer and extreme wealth is concentrated at the very top.

What voters in Holborn and St Pancras will get with me as their MP is someone totally dedicated to standing up for them. Put simply I will use my place in parliament to force the current Labour government into making life more affordable for the people who live here.

Before Polanski officially becomes the Green party’s candidate, he has to be selected by the local party. But it is not expected that this will be a problem for him. Polanski is hugely popular with party members, and last year won the leadership contest with ۸۴% of the vote.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has said he will stand in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election which was triggered when Keir Starmer announced he was quitting as an MP.

Good morning. Nothing is new in life or politics, and the concern that people feel about small boats crossing the Channel now is minimal compared to the alarm that Britons must have felt in ۱۰۶۶ as the Duke of Normandy’s invasion force arrived in England. Almost ۱,۰۰۰ years later, the horror is long forgotten and Andy Burnham was with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at the British Museum last night to celebrate the Bayeux Tapestry as “the best possible symbol” of the “entente amicale” between France and the UK, as King Charles put it in a speech last night.

This morning Burnham is hosting Macron for political talks in Downing Street and another fleet of small boats will be on the agenda. As Rajeev Syal reports, ahead of the meeting No ۱۰ has announced that the UK and France have increased the number of police on the French coast to stop so-called “mega dinghies” from launching across the English Channel. Rajeev says:

While the combined total number of boat crossings over the summer months has dropped to its lowest since ۲۰۱۹, smugglers appear to have started loading more people onto fewer, larger vessels. Dinghies are now being launched as far as ۱۵۰ miles southwest of Calais.

Downing Street said measures to counter the trend include deploying a surge team of ۴۵ officers to France’s western beaches in the coming weeks, almost tripling resources in the area.

A specialist French intelligence and judicial team seeking to root out and prosecute smuggling networks has grown from ۱۸ to ۳۰ officers.

And a new ۷۵-strong unit focused on curbing crossings has begun operations in northern France, taking the total number of officers to nearly ۱,۰۵۰.

Home Office officials have recently claimed that ۱۵-metre boats which can carry ۲۳۰ people are being launched because hardline tactics used by French police and funded by the UK are working.

The BBC reported on Thursday that people smugglers are being forced to work together and use larger boats, and have increased their prices for a Channel journey from €۱,۳۰۰ to €۱,۷۰۰ (£۱۱۲۰ to £۱۴۶۰) over the last year.

Critics are saying both governments should be doing more.

There are other important issues on the agenda for the talks too. Kiran Stacey has a preview here.

We will also be hearing a lot today from the Conservatives and Reform UK. Here is the agenda for the day.

۱۰am: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech on defence, and how the Conservatives would fund a rise in defence spending to ۳% of GDP by ۲۰۳۰.

۱۱am: Robert Jenrick, the Reform UK Treasury spokesperson, speaks on a panel at the Reform conference’s ‘business day’. Suella Braverman, the education spokesperson, is also speaking at an event. The main conference starts tomorrow.

Around ۱۱am: Emmanuel Macron, the French president, arrives at Downing Street for talks with Andy Burnham.

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