Image source, Getty Images

Zack Polanski - who came second in yesterday's by-election - has been the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales since September 2025.

He has never served as an MP, but has been a London Assembly member since 2021.

Born in 1982, Polanski grew up in Salford and went to university in Aberystwyth, Wales, He currently lives in the Hackney area of east London.

He is gay and also Jewish, changing his name from David Paulden when he reached 18 in order to embrace the identity erased by his family's anglicised surname, as well as to differentiate himself from his stepdad, who had the same first name.

He had an unconventional path to politics, previously working as an actor, hypnotherapist and mental health counsellor.

His first foray into politics was joining the Liberal Democrats, a party he now criticises as being insufficiently left-wing. He joined the Greens in 2017.

He became the party's deputy leader in 2022 and went on to win the leadership in 2025 pitching himself as an "eco-populist" promising more radical action to fix unfair societal systems, rather than "briefcase politics".

Susana Mendonca
BBC Radio London political reporter

I’ve been speaking to people in Camden Town, which is in the centre of the constituency, to get a sense of how people are feeling this morning.

Claire Essex, who usually votes for Labour, tells me she is feeling "a bit disappointed".

She decided to vote Green this time because she feels "really despondent" with Labour-led Camden Council, as well as how Keir Starmer "operated as an MP".

Asked what she thought of the idea of an Andy Burnham bounce, Claire says there has "definitely" been an improvement but that Labour "has some way to go" to regain her trust.

Another local resident, Lorenzo Tedeschi, says he is "very happy" with Sagal Abdi-Wali's victory and that he voted for Labour "because I think it creates the right climate to live in Camden".

Lorenzo says he wants Abdi-Wali to focus on the "reduction of poverty".

"It's been getting worse in the past 10 years, and the past two or three years it has been very, very bad."

Image source, Getty Images

Sagal Abdi-Wali begins her speech at the London Irish Centre by thanking her supporters and pledges to work to make their families' lives better.

"Homelessness is the thing that drove me into politics," Abdi-Wali says, before moving on to describe how she'll seek to tackle issues including the ownership of Thames Water and opportunities for young people in Camden.

Abdi-Wali thanks her predecessor Keir Starmer for his support, as well as her campaigning team, and ends by saying: "People voted for hope and now we're going to be able to deliver for them".

Image source, Getty Images

Labour Party members are this morning celebrating their success in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.

The moment is being marked in a victory speech by victorious candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, who is accompanied by Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell.

To cheers and applause, Powell says she's excited to see Abdi-Wali to deliver "progressive change", and lists taking on Thames Water and working with Andy Burnham to end rough sleeping as some of her objectives.

Labour's new MP Sagal Abdi-Wali is speaking at an event in north London following her victory in Holborn and St Pancras.

You can follow along by clicking watch live at the top of this page.

Image source, Reuters

Labour Party leader Andy Burnham is the latest to congratulate Sagal Abdi-Wali on her victory in Holborn and St Pancras.

"Yesterday, Holborn and St Pancras voted for hope," he writes on social media.

"Congratulations [Sagal Abdi-Wali] and the whole team on a fantastic campaign. Looking forward to working together!"

We're expecting to hear a victory speech from Abdi-Wali shortly - we'll bring you the key lines here.

After taking first and second spot in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, here's how Labour and the Green Party have been reacting on a busy morning media round:

• Green Party leader Zack Polanski tells BBC Breakfast he's "incredibly proud" of the Greens' campaign that saw them gain 22 points on the 2024 election - despite the fact they fell short of Labour's total by over 3,000 votes
• Polanski put the loss down to voters wanting to "give Andy Burnham a chance" as prime minister
• Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson, meanwhile, calls Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali's win a "real endorsement of Labour's message of hope"
• She says Polanski and the Greens should "distance themselves" from a controversial party motion that declared Zionism is a form of racism
• Polanski had been criticised by former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas over the motion, which she described as "divisive", but he tells the Today programme: "People can disagree"
• He tells Radio 4's Today programme the Greens are investigating the party member behind the motion, and says that he would not have voted for it without amendments being passed, which had been rejected by Green members

Image source, Getty Images

Former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who vacated his Holborn and St Pancras seat shortly after stepping down as leader, has praised his successor's victory on social media this morning.

"Brilliant result," he writes. "Congratulations to my friend [Sagal Abdi-Wali] I know you are a brilliant champion for our communities and will be a fantastic MP."

Image source, Getty Images

Labour's new MP in Holborn and St Pancras is Sagal Abdi-Wali, who became a councillor in Camden in 2022 before going on to become council leader.

Abdi-Wali, 42, who came to the UK from Somalia as a child refugee with her family in the 1990s, grew up in Camden.

She was elected as leader of the local authority in May, and was chosen by Labour members to contest the north London seat vacated by Keir Starmer.

Speaking after her victory, Abdi-Wali said homelessness was the issue that drove her into politics and she wants to work with the government to "tackle rough sleeping while addressing the wider housing crisis".

She has worked as a volunteer and trustee for local charities in the borough, as well as the governor of two schools, according to Labour.

Gem O'Reilly
Reporting from Kentish Town

It doesn't take long when you walk out of Kentish Town tube station to realise that homelessness and the cost of living is an issue here.

Those are focuses for St Pancras and Holborn's new MP Sagal Abdi-Wali. She's even said she's already in talks with Andy Burnham about her plans to tackle homelessness.

But a lot of people I've approached this morning say they feel disconnected from local politics and like action is never taken.

Ricardo, 23, works at a coffee stand next to the station, says: "Renting and pricing is just too high. Most young people can’t afford a stable home."

Anushka, 24, echoes this view and said more opportunities need to be created for young people.

"I think rent is really inaccessible at the moment, so ideally lower rent for renters and less private landlord housing," she tells me.

I ask both if they feel London is accessible for young people at the moment, to feel like they have a future here, and both answer no.

Polanski is asked about Lubna Speitan, one of the Green Party members behind the "Zionism is Racism" motion.

Since the motion passed, it has emerged that she is listed in court documents as a "close friend" of a man later jailed for supporting al-Qaeda.

• In a post on Instagram, before the Green Party had confirmed its investigation to the BBC, Speitan said: "I reject all defamatory and nonsense claims made about me."

"I wasn't aware of that, I'm obviously aware of that now," Polanski says, adding that the the party had launched an investigation.

He argues that it's important for there to be "a distinction between the leadership office and the disciplinary process".

Pushed on if he should have looked into her background sooner, Polanski says there were 121 motions put forward for party conference.

When asked if he will lead a fight to change the policy, Polanksi says he wants a motion at a future conference that sees the party "go back to a process where Israelis and Palestinians decide the future of their region".

Polanski is asked to address criticism of his leadership from Caroline Lucas - the former Green Party leader who served as its lone Westminister MP for 14 years.

Lucas told BBC Newsnight on Thursday that Polanski had failed to show leadership over the motion, which she described as "dangerous", "divisive" and "flawed from top to bottom".

He first stresses that he and Lucas "agree on a lot of things", such as the climate crisis and ending arms sales to Israel.

"We have 220,000 members, Caroline is a member of this party, as am I. People can disagree," he says.

Polanski says that he didn't stay in Brighton to vote on the Zionism motion because he was "running in a very prominent by-election" and that he'd tried to get the conference postponed until after yesterday's vote.

Asked to reflect on what's gone wrong for the Greens, Polanski responds that if tripling their vote share and having their second best by-election result ever means things are going wrong for the Green Party, "then I'll take that".

"What was a safe Labour seat since 1983 is now a marginal Labour seat, that's clearly growth and next time we can get it over the line," he explains.

When pushed on the fact his own popularity has declined in the polls, Polanski says his mission has been to ensure Labour is "more scared" of the Greens than they are of Reform.

In fact, Polanski says, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been using "a lot of the language and rhetoric" that he has been using over the past year.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski is speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme following his party's by-election loss in Holborn and St Pancras.

You can follow along by clicking watch live at the top of this page. We'll also bring you key updates here.

Phillipson is next asked about the Green Party vote declaring Zionism is a form of racism.

Asked whether she thinks the Greens have an "antisemitism problem", the Labour Party chair replies: "Yes, I think there is a serious challenge they face there."

She says Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been clear that the motion passed by Green Party members is "wrong", and has caused "real distress" for Jews.

"The Greens should distance themselves from it, you should hear Zack Polanski this morning condemning that motion and stepping away from it," she adds.

Earlier, Polanski said he wouldn't have voted for the motion in its current form.

Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson is now speaking to BBC Breakfast.

The party is "absolutely delighted that we secured such a brilliant victory", she says, praising Sagal Abdi-Wali as an "amazing candidate".

Asked about the turnout in this by-election being lower than seen in the constituency during the 2024 General Election, Phillipson says "you would expect turnout to be low in a by-election" and says it's "still pretty decent" in the context.

She says that the result is "a real endorsement of Labour's message of "hope".

But she notes that "winning one seat isn't the same as winning 600-odd", and says the next election will be "a big fight for the future of our country".

"You can never be complacent in politics," she adds.

As we've just reported, Green Party leader Zack Polanski has told the BBC he wouldn't have voted for the motion that declared Zionism is a form of racism in its current form.

Polanski couldn't vote at the conference, as he was campaigning for yesterday's by-election, but he said he would have supported an amended motion, if that had been passed by party members.

After the motion passed by 1,022 votes against 813 last week, Polanski said he had wanted to see two amendments.

Firstly, the leader wanted to see the reference to a single Palestinian state changed, arguing: "I don't believe we as a Green Party of England and Wales, or even the British government, should be deciding what the future settlement looks like."

He had also said he wanted an amendment to specify that it should not be used to discipline Jewish members attending synagogues that consider themselves Zionist.

Both amendments were rejected by Green members.

There has been a lot of reporting overnight on this motion - passed by Green Party members at the party's conference in Brighton last weekend.

In this video, from earlier this week, our chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman explains what the motion is and the row surrounding it:

Zack Polanski is asked whether he agreed with the Green Party motion - passed recently at their conference in Brighton - that declared Zionism is a form of racism.

The Greens leader says he "grew up in a Zionist household" but now understands more about the displacement of Palestinians in the region.

"It's very obvious to me that if there is an ongoing genocide, then that is underpinned by a racist ideology," he explains.

Pushed further on whether he agrees with the motion, Polanski describes it as "imperfect" and agrees with some parts but disagrees with others.

For instance, he disagrees that the British government could decide there is a single state in the region, but agrees the "displacement and genocide" of the Palestinian people is underpinned by a "racist ideology".

Had he been present to vote, Polanski continues, he would have voted for an amended motion that removed the first element.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski is now speaking to BBC Breakfast.

He starts by saying he's "incredibly proud" of the campaign they ran in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, and that the result shows that his party is "more of an electoral threat in these seats than we've ever been before".

"This is the foundation we're looking to build on," he says.

Polanski says that the main reason he thinks he didn't win the seat is because people have told him they like the party's policies but want to "give Andy Burnham a chance" as prime minister.

"Well, Andy Burnham's got a chance now, let's see what he does with it," he says.

• You can watch Polanski speaking to BBC Breakfast at the top of this page