Green Party leader Zack Polanski has spoken to NME about his hopes for 2026, as well as his plans to tackle issues relating to music and culture, young people, and selling his vision to naysayers.
The leader of the progressive left-wing party said that he and his party enjoyed a “phenomenal year” in 2025, with the Greens attracting 120,000 new members and appearing ahead of the governing Labour party in several polls throughout the year.
This week’s polls saw Reforms’s lead down two points to 24 per cent for the second consecutive week, while the Greens are up three points to 17 per cent – just seven points behind Farage’s party. Meanwhile, the Conservatives stand at 18 per cent and Labour are at 19, all ahead of the Liberal Democrats trailing on 14 per cent.
This comes as polling among 18-24 year-olds currently shows the Greens far ahead with 45 per cent, more than double of Labour at 45 per cent, the Lib Dems at 14, and Reform and Conservatives both drawn at nine per cent.
Their appeal among young people is said to be due to the Greens approach to universal income, immigration and racism, taxing the elite, tackling climate issues, and their stance on Palestine. Polanski told NME that a successful year for the Greens came balanced “with the country being in turmoil”.
“There are some really deep-seated problems,” he said. “So it’s a mixed reaction to the despair at the state in which people are living and what governments have allowed to happen, but also hope to see the Green Party to be the real alternative and to see so many people join for the first time.”
With an ever more concerning international situation, as well as growing divisions in the UK, Polanski said that he hoped for more dialogue and for bridges to be built, believing that music, art and culture should be better nurtured to allow for a healthier society.
“In 2026, I hope there will be more light, peace and hope – but that can only happen if we look into the darkness, the fear, and the anger,” he told NME. “Art is one of the most powerful ways you can do that, and if you don’t have art occupying that space then it does create this vacuum for demagogues and narcissists to be able to project an image of who we are that isn’t true; but then there’s no counterculture to be able to challenge that idea.”
As a regular at BoomTown (where he used to work), Polanski told us that he has spent a lot of his summers at festivals. His favourite gig of 2025 was Beans On Toast at Glastonbury, while his album of the year was Rizzle Kicks‘ ‘Competition Is For Losers’ – having joined them on stage back in November, where they took aim at Reform leader Nigel Farage.
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