What impact will Andy Burnham have on Zack Polanski and the Greens?

In less than a year as leader Polanski has more than tripled Green party membership in England and Wales. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA View image in fullscreen In less than a year as leader Polanski has more than tripled Green party membership in England and Wales. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA Analysis What impact will Andy Burnham have on Zack Polanski and the Greens? Peter Walker Senior political correspondent Voters disillusioned with Starmer’s Labour were tempted by the Greens – but Polanski’s party fears the affable, left-leaning Burnham could win them back The shift was notable. A week after Keir Starmer said he would resign, YouGov polling showed Labour up two points and the Greens down by the same amount. Might an Andy Burnham premiership mean a rethink for Zack Polanski’s party? The short answer is it is too early to know, particularly in an era of unprecedented political volatility and the seesawing poll numbers that come with it. This year alone, a five-point Labour lead over the Greens has become a similar margin in favour of the Greens, and then a seven-point advantage for Labour. But many Greens accept that Burnham might be a different proposition to take on. Polanski, in just 10 months in charge of the party in England and Wales, has more than tripled the Greens’ membership, yanked poll ratings stuck at about 10% to near twice that, and shocked Reform UK and Labour by winning the Gorton and Denton byelection. Much of this success has come from tempting voters disillusioned with Starmer’s Labour. Separate YouGov polling also released this week showed the sheer scale of this cross-appeal, with 85% of 2024 Labour voters saying they had a favourable impression of Polanski’s party. View image in fullscreen Some senior Greens say Burnham’s likely policy agenda is not sufficiently different to allow a lasting Labour poll bounce. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP It is unclear, for now, how much of this holds true for Burnham, who is a better communicator than Starmer and able to articulate ideas that sound left-leaning, whatever they might mean in practice. Greens examining how party decides policy as membership triples under Zack Polanski Read more “A lot of the impact Zack has had in these first nine months has been because there was a clear space for an affable leader who is to the left of Keir Starmer, and there now will be questions about whether that space is still there,” one senior Green said. “If we have a PM who is seen as more left, us simply going further to the left isn’t going to deliver the results we want.” Others in the party are more sanguine, with many saying they were prepared for a Labour poll bounce once Starmer was removed, but did not see Burnham’s probable policy agenda as being sufficiently different to make this long-lasting. “Keir Starmer came in saying he was going to do a lot of things, and it was that sense of dashed hopes that did for him,” one Green official said. “I can see the same thing happening with Bur