Zack Polanski calls two-party politics dead after Hackney mayoral win

Zack Polanski has declared Britain’s two-party politics “dead and buried” as his Green party won its first ever mayoral election and gained councillors across England. As Labour losses piled up across the country and the Conservatives endured another disappointing set of results, Polanski sought to present his party as emerging from the results as the most viable option for opponents of Reform. “It is very clear that the new politics is the Green party versus Reform,” he said. Speaking at the Hackney count centre in London where the party won its first ever mayoral seat, he added: “I said that the Green party were going to replace Labour. That’s exactly what we did in Gorton and Denton, it’s what we’ve done in Hackney, and we’re seeing that right across the country. In fact, in almost all of our seats, right across the country, whether they’re target or non-target, the Green party vote share is rising.” With 258 council seats declared by early evening, the party was celebrating 184 new council seats, along with seats in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments for the first time. Prof Tony Travers, a local government expert at the London School of Economics, said that the Greens’ failure to make more of an imprint in London reflected the capital’s unique status in England, with results appearing favouring the more traditional parties. …