Zack Polanski has accused the incoming prime minister of failing to take a sufficiently hardline stance on Gaza, criticising him for not pledging to halt all UK arms sales to Israel.
As Andy Burnham prepares to replace Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Monday, the Green Party leader launched a broadside attack on the Makerfield MP, suggesting that he was offering a “semi-skimmed” version of Green Party policies.
Speaking to Sky News, Polanski said: “What I think we’re seeing now in speed run is what does a Labour government look like with supposedly their best leader?
“And I think we’re still going to see a party where inequality gets wider, where we’ve seen them apologise for Labour’s history in Gaza, but he’s still not signalled that he’s going to stop selling arms to Israel.
“So I think again and again we’re going to hear rhetoric which is more in line with what the Green Party is saying.
“But why have semi-skimmed when you could come to the Green Party and actually have the full version, where we’re both saying and doing things?”
In one of his few policy interventions since returning to Parliament last month, Burnham apologised for Labour’s response to the Gaza War under Starmer and suggested he might ban the import of goods from Israeli settlements when he takes office.
He also failed to push back in an interview with Gary Lineker when the former BBC presenter, who left the corporation “by mutual agreement” after sharing a social media post with allegedly antisemitic implications, accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
But he has, so far, not called for a total arms embargo on the Jewish State, something Polanski has repeatedly advocated.
In September 2024, then Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that 30 of around 350 UK arms licenses relating to Israel would be suspended after the Foreign Office concluded there was “a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.
Polanski also criticised Burnham’s reported cabinet appointments, particularly the rumoured promotion of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to chancellor.
In a post on X on Thursday, Polanski said Burnham's reported decision to appoint Mahmood to the Treasury showed he was “subservient to the City of London”, adding: “The mood music is ominous.”
The Greens also claim that Burnham appears weak on climate action, with Polanski saying the country was “at breaking point” as a result of high rents and bills, extreme heat, and anger over Gaza.
He went on: “The status quo is intolerable – and all the signs so far indicate that Andy Burnham will fail to challenge it. He is rumoured to have dropped his plans to make Ed Miliband chancellor because bankers in the City of London told him to.
“He won’t take real action to lower rents, because at every level of government the Labour party enjoys a cosy relationship with big landlords, lobbyists and property developers. And his party is too in hock to vested interests to challenge the oil and gas companies profiting from climate breakdown.
“Only bold action will lift this country from this slump. Rent controls would keep money in people’s pockets, wealth taxes would move money from the multimillionaires into our schools and libraries, and by cutting off all arms sales and logistics support to Israel, we would finally take a proper stand against the genocide.
“And ultimately to help protect everyone in this country from the impacts of the climate and nature crisis, we need to end oil and gas drilling in the North Sea for good.”
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