Farage just wiped smug grin off Polanski’s face – ordinary Brits will love his plan

One of the most frightening subplots in the tragicomedy that is British politics has been the stratospheric rise of the Greens. A movement that for decades was derided by many as the natural home for pot-smoking tree huggers, bypass protesters, and soap dodgers, is now Britain’s third-largest political party. Where the wacky fringe movement once barely registered a murmur, it is now a serious force boasting a membership of 200,000.

It’s smirking and self-righteous leader Zack Polanski, a former drama student and hypnotherapist, is largely responsible for that, but he doesn’t take the spotlight of scrutiny very well. Despite an alarming rise in antisemitism, he opposes banning the cry Globalise the Intifada, a call to arms for violence against Jews, in a ridiculous argument in which he suggests words in no way lead to actions.

Polanski said: “I don’t think policing people’s language is going to make Jewish people feel safer in this country”.

He has also refused to commend the actions of police officers who tackled the armed Golders Green terror stabbing suspect. A greater insult is hard to imagine. Eco-populist Polanski – real name David Paulden – advocates a humanitarian, pro-migrant approach, arguing that migration benefits the UK economy and public services.

Millions of Brits beg to differ, saying the country is already full up and fed up. He also wants to clobber the wealthy in an effort to reduce inequality, without yet realising they are the engine driving the economy.

Still, he has painted himself as the antithesis of Reform UK as he pedals pseudo solutions to the myriad of crises facing the country.

The Greens – still essentially a protest party – might do well in London in tomorrow’s local elections at the expense of Labour, but the litmus test of their resurgence will come where it matters – out in the rest of the country miles from Westminster where the disaffected and voiceless are screaming to be heard.

On migration, which will be a central battleground for years to come, the Greens are diametrically opposed to Reform UK, believing inequality and underinvestment are to blame, not those given bed and board here.

It is why out in the real world Farage’s party will clean up.

As if to test this, and in ​a clear​ sign that tomorrow’s local elections are a general election dry run, Reform UK is pushing its promise to “deport all illegal migrants in Britain (and) detain tens of thousands at a time”.

None will be able to leave, as they are free to do now under Labour’s haphazard approach, and in a promise to those who vote for the party, ​it said no facilities will be built in any constituency with a Reform MP, nor will they be placed where the party controls the council.

It means they will be housed, as a priority, in Green​-controlled parliamentary constituencies and councils. Over to you, Zack.

Zia Yusuf, who bills himself as Reform UK’s Shadow Home Secretary, said: “Put simply, if you vote in a Reform council or Reform MP, we guarantee you won’t have a detention centre near you. If you vote Green, there’s a good chance you will.

“This is an important exercise in democratic consent, not just for our mass deportation policy, but for where the detention centres are placed. Given Zack Polanski openly advocates for open borders, I look forward to their warm embrace of this policy.”

Those who think Polanski in any way possesses the answers to the many problems facing this country then we are all in deep trouble.

And Reform thinks the Greens don’t like it up ’em. Tomorrow, we will get a fair idea as to which way the wind is blowing. And all the indications are that it will be swiftly removed from Polanski’s sails.