Zack Polanski urges Green voters to press Labour on rents

Green Party leader Zack Polanski urged voters at his party’s conference in Brighton on 2 October 2026 to back the Greens as a way to press Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s Labour government to change course. His central housing proposal was a three-year limit on private rent increases, aimed at giving tenants relief while the party develops a longer-term approach.

‘Vote Green, and watch Labour move,’ Polanski told activists, according to the BBC’s account of his speech. He argued that sustained pressure from the Greens had already shifted Labour’s positions on climate and Israel. That claim of influence was his political argument; the reporting does not establish that Green pressure caused the changes he described.

How Polanski’s proposed three-year rent limit would work

Polanski called for an ‘emergency brake’ on increases in private rents for three years. Under the proposal reported by the BBC and Inside Housing, a rise could be no higher than the lowest of three measures: Consumer Price Index inflation, wage growth or 2%. The formula would set an upper limit on increases, rather than fix every tenant’s rent at the same level.

Inside Housing reported ahead of the speech that Polanski intended the measure to give renters ‘breathing space’. It said he also planned to outline a ‘fair rents guarantee’ as a longer-term policy. The three-year limit is a Green Party proposal, and neither report establishes that the government has agreed to adopt it or explains how it would be put into law.

Why Polanski is pressing Labour on housing

Polanski accused Labour of failing to act on housing and of leaving the interests of developers and large landlords unchallenged, the BBC reported. He presented a Green vote as a means of putting pressure on Burnham’s government, rather than waiting for ministers to make the changes he wants. His appeal made housing both a policy demand and part of the party’s electoral pitch.

That demand goes beyond a tenant protection already introduced by Labour. Inside Housing reported that the Renters’ Rights Act includes a ban on no-fault evictions, but that the government had ruled out rent controls. It also reported that Housing Secretary Angela Rayner told the BBC in July that Burnham was not looking at the measure. A ban on no-fault evictions and a limit on rent increases address different parts of the rental relationship.

Polanski’s criticism was part of a broader attack on Labour’s record. The BBC reported that he accused the government of offering ‘slogans without action’ on the cost of living and said the Greens would end what he called ‘Rip Off Britain’. He also repeated his party’s call to tax extreme wealth. Those pledges help explain why he cast Green votes as a source of pressure on Labour rather than simply as support for one housing measure.

What July’s official rent figures show

The Office for National Statistics reported that average UK monthly private rent was £1,393 in July 2026, £50 or 3.7% higher than a year earlier. These are July figures, not a measure of rents in October. The ONS described the UK estimate as provisional and subject to revision, a qualification that matters when comparing relatively small changes between months.

In the same July release, the ONS recorded annual rent increases of 3.8% in England, 4.5% in Wales and 1.7% in Scotland. Northern Ireland’s available figure covered the year to May and showed a 2.3% increase. The statistics give context for Polanski’s proposal, but they do not show how his proposed ceiling would affect individual tenancies or future rents.

The ONS said the UK annual rate had risen from 3.3% in the year to June to 3.7% in the year to July, mainly because London’s annual rate increased. It cautioned that collection differences affect comparisons involving Scotland and Northern Ireland. Those limits mean the national figures should not be read as identical experiences for renters in every part of the UK.

The question for Burnham’s government

Polanski’s conference message was that Green electoral pressure could move Labour towards his party’s priorities. The immediate policy test is narrower: whether Burnham’s government changes its stated position on rent controls or responds to the proposed three-year limit. The sources establish what Polanski asked for and Labour’s previously reported position; they do not establish a government response to this speech or a timetable for any change.