The Greens could look to “align” with the party being set up by former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, new leader Zack Polanski has said.
In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, Mr Polanski suggested he would be open to co-operating with the as-yet unnamed party, saying they have “a similar message” while acknowledging the new party’s programme is uncertain “because they don’t exist yet”.
He added: “But what I would say more widely is this is a moment to demonstrate a different and new kind of politics – in the old days, you’d expect me to come on and be criticising other politicians just because they’re from other parties.
“You won’t get any of that with me.”
The interview comes a day after Mr Polanski’s landslide victory in the Green Party leadership election, which saw him defeat a joint ticket of MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns by 20,411 to 3,705.
His victory was welcomed by both former Labour leader Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana, who announced in July that they would found a new party of their own.
Both said they “look forward” to “working with” Mr Polanski, while Mr Corbyn praised him for a campaign which “took on the rich and powerful, stood up for the dignity of all marginalised communities, and gave people hope”.
Mr Polanski’s “eco-populist” campaign, casting the new Green leader as on the side of “the 99%” against “the 1%”, brought speculation that he could seek an alliance with Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana’s party as they bid to appeal to similar voters.
On Wednesday, Mr Polanski himself raised the possibility of some form of collaboration on “challenging this failing Labour Government” and on issues such as benefits and the war in Gaza.
He said: “Where I ally with people like Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana – where I agree with a lot of their politics, or at least what I know of their politics – then actually, I do want to see what does a conversation on the issues (look like), how can we align.”
He also urged Labour to “stop aping” Reform UK, and argued: “The real threat in this country is multi-millionaires and billionaires who are not paying their fair share of tax.”
