Zack Polanski says Greater Manchester needs change after Burnham

By George Lythgoe – Local Democracy Reporter

Andy Burnham has ‘damaged’ Greater Manchester with his ‘Manchesterism’, according to Zack Polanski.

The Green Party leader believes its candidate for Greater Manchester mayor Geraldine Coggins can reverse that.

He claims that the new Prime Minister has let private investors ride roughshod over the city-region – resulting in thousands of homes people can’t afford.

He is confident in his ‘exceptional’ candidate, who intends to build 20,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years if she gets elected as Greater Manchester mayor on July 30.

Sitting down for an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service in the Nia Centre, Hulme, Mr Polanski seemed hopeful for yet another Trafford Greens leader to take higher office.

Zack Polanski talking to local press about the Green Party campaign for Greater Manchester Mayor, the prospects of our candidate Geraldine Coggins, and why the campaign is such an important test of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government.
Picture Jason Roberts / Manchester Evening News

The site was originally called the Hulme Hippodrome, and went on to become the first large-scale, black-led arts centre in Europe. It is now a non-profit community asset, something the Greens are hoping to see more of if they successfully get Geraldine Coggins elected come polling day.

Mr Polanski said: “It’s spaces that are run for people rather than solely profit. Something we’ve talked about a lot in this campaign is taking Manchester back from big money.

“I’ve just been walking through the streets now, just filming a video actually about the fact that skyscrapers are littering the skyline. You’ve got people sleeping out on the streets, families who are turning to food banks to feed their kids.

“What we had with Andy Burnham was his so-called ‘Manchesterism’. But actually, what Manchesterism has resulted in is really just neoliberalism accelerated, which is hundreds of millions of pounds given to property developers, companies including Renaker, where in some of those developments not a single affordable home has been built.

“And he’s saying he’s planning to repeat this model for the whole of the UK, but actually, this is not what the UK needs.

“Obviously, this election is about Greater Manchester. It’s about reversing some of the damage that’s been done through years of Labour running the city-region.”

He went on to explain that ‘trickle-down economics’, where investment sees money filter down, has not worked for the last 40 years. The Greens feel now is time for a different approach, where the rich don’t get richer and the poor don’t get poorer.

He admitted what Andy Burnham has done in the city-region ‘isn’t all bad’. Mr Polanski was keen on increased power for metro mayors through further devolution promised by the new Prime Minister.

As a member of the London Assembly, which scrutinises the work of London mayor Sadiq Khan, he believes a similar style organisation should be brought to Greater Manchester. He believes more scrutiny should go hand in hand with higher powered decision making.

More devolution would be necessary for what Geraldine Coggins has planned, with rent controls and cracking down on rogue landlords. Affordable housing is central to the Green’s plans for the city-region, with the idea that cheaper rents and house prices means more money in the pockets of people.

This extra cash could then be spent on growing local businesses, high street and therefore the local economy.

“So, I think the answer partly is to have a publicly owned developer, which is Homes for Greater Manchester,” Mr Polanski added. “Ultimately looking at bringing money in, but making sure that money is coming from government schemes, things like the Social and Affordable Housing Program and making sure we’re looking at grants.

“Also we need to recognise one of the fundamental things that should happen both in Greater Manchester and nationally right now, which is rent controls. If we’d frozen rents in 2022, the average UK renter would be saving £2,400 every single year.

“That’s obvious that rent controls would save renters money. The bit that gets missed, though, is that would be saving the government £2bn a year because of the amount of money that goes from government straight to private landlords through housing benefit.

“It is true that a Green mayor on their own couldn’t bring in rent controls, but they would be a huge thorn in the Labour government’s side. This is because that would be another national platform where the mayor of Greater Manchester was speaking up for people in Greater Manchester.

“By saying actually, freezing rents, that’s more money in people’s pockets, which is also good for local businesses because that’s more purchasing power to have a coffee in a local café or to buy a pint in the pub at the end of the work shift.”

The Green Party leader went on to make further calls to change the voting system for both general elections and the mayoral elections to proportional representation. He feels the first-past-the post system has led to political complacency.

He is confident that there is enthusiasm for what the Green party is doing, with positive feedback on the ground as well as encouraging data from social media analytics. Mr Polanski claimed nine of their online adverts were performing better than 20 of Labour’s online.

He admitted advert views don’t equal votes, but believed it shows ‘there’s an enthusiasm for a different kind of politics’, which he feels Geraldine is bringing to the table.

Speaking on why Greater Manchester should vote Geraldine Coggins and the Green Party, Mr Polanski added: “I have no doubt in my mind that whether we pull off a major upset or whether it’s just very clear that there’s huge momentum for the Green Party in terms of the next Greater Manchester mayoral election, it’s very clear that people are sick of Labour in Greater Manchester.

“I didn’t know Geraldine that well when this campaign started, and I’ve been so impressed with her scrutiny ability, her attention to detail, and the way she holds herself.

“I think what we’ve seen for years now is politics that’s performative and showy. And she’s shown on social media she can do that as well.

“I think she would bring a stable pair of hands, who’s calm, who puts the work in, and actually has a genuine transformative vision of Greater Manchester.”

The full list of candidates for the Greater Manchester mayoral election, in alphabetical order, is: