At a community garden centre in north London earlier today, Zack Polanski gave his first major speech on the economy since he was elected leader of the Green Party in September 2025. It has been informed by economists such as Joseph Stiglitz and Mariana Mazzucato. Here are five things we learned from his speech.
1. Polanski called on the government to ensure that energy bills do not rise above the April-June price cap.
Responding to the burgeoning energy crisis caused by the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Polanski said the government should set aside £8.4bn to prevent a rise of up to £300 in future energy bills. This is unlikely to go down well with the Treasury, considering the UK’s current fiscal outlook. But Polanski was firm: “No. It’s not cheap,” he said, “but the alternative, it’s unacceptable. If the price cap raises, interest rates rise, mortgage rates, up, bond yield, up, inflation, up.” Polanski said the government could pay for this by strengthening the windfall tax on energy companies, which it has committed to scrapping this year. Will Keir Starmer follow the Green Party leader’s suggestion? It’s unlikely.
2. A Green government would scrap the Right to Buy
In the second half of his speech, Polanski focused on the impact of Thatcher-era policies on today’s UK economy. He focused on Right to Buy. The measure allows council house-owners to purchase their properties at a discount if they have been residents for more than three years.
Over 2 million homes have been sold since Right to Buy was first introduced in the 1980s, and many of them are being rented on the private market. Polanski described the system as “totally unfair” and “utterly incoherent”. It was abolished in Scotland in 2016 and Wales in 2019, and the Labour government has added restrictions in places where it remains (newbuild council housing, for example, is now exempt for 35 years). Many high-profile Labour politicians, including Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner, have criticised the system. Polanski has taken this one step further: he is the only party leader to pledge to scrap the system.
3. “Zackonomics” has three pillars
Polanski outlined three key measures at the heart of his economic strategy. They are: capping rents, nationalising the water industry and slashing energy bills. They are part of his plan to “end rip-off Britain”. The Greens would pay for these measures by introducing a wealth tax. This would include a 1 per cent tax on assets over £10m and a 2 per cent tax on assets over £1bn. A Polanski government would also equalise capital gains tax with income tax, close tax-avoidance loopholes, and apply National Insurance to income from investments as well as earned income. The strategy also involves the UK freeing itself from the “bond-market doom-loop”: a phrase that is unlikely to go down well with Polanski’s critics in the City.
Polanski also committed to decoupling electricity and gas prices – a major reason for high energy costs. “We need to stop the price of gas inflating the price of electricity,” he said. The Green Party leader and his team have worked with Common Wealth to assess how this might work. A new paper published by the think tank on Thursday outlines some specific measures to do this such as passing “emergency legislation and instruct the National Energy System Operator to act as a single buyer of power”.
4. The Green Party would wipe off student debt, but it hasn’t quite worked out how
The government has been coming under renewed pressure to fix the student loans system in recent months after it was revealed that two thirds of plan-two graduates haven’t even paid off their interest. Polanski was critical of Rachel Reeves’s comments, made yesterday, that fixing the system is “not a priority”. The Green Party leader said: “Rachel Reeves was wrong. We really need to fix that system.”
But when asked to clarify his own position on student loans, Polanski conceded the Green Party still has work to do. “Yes, I would like to have debt forgiveness. How we do that, though, is a more nuanced in conversation,” Polanski said. He added that he would be looking to think tanks – such as the speech’s host, the New Economics Foundation – to work out how. In other words, watch this space.
5. Polanski would take the UK back into the customs union and, eventually, the European Union
In the second part of his speech, Polanski outlined his opinion that privatisation, austerity and Brexit have all had a damaging effect on the UK economy. On the latter issue, Polanski said: “The evidence of the impact [of Brexit] is so clear. Employment down, investment down, productivity, down. The economy is 6-8 per cent smaller than it would have been.”
When pushed on his position on the EU in press questions following his speech, Polanski said that though he does not think the Union is “perfect” he added “we’re much better building our relationships with our European neighbours, including rejoining the customs union”. He then confirmed: “Yes, I do want to see us rejoin the European Union.”
This is the first time Polanski has properly laid out his economic vision, but it likely won’t be the last. There is still work to be done, but as one senior Green Party figure told me following Polanski’s speech: “You can’t expect us to write our 2029 manifesto today.” For now, “Zackonomics” has a mission and an outline. But will it be enough to win over the public?
[Further reading: Keir Starmer is struggling to keep his New Year’s resolution]
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