The Greens have seen their Waltham Forest membership grow by 122% between September and late October – and as dissatisfaction with Labour grows, the party appears very confident ahead of next year’s local elections

By Marco Marcelline

Is the Green Party set to unleash a spectacular political upset in Labour-held Waltham Forest?

Green activists seem to think so, telling the Echo the party will “inevitably” pick up council seats at the expense of Labour come May, adding that dissatisfaction with Labour on the local and national level is a “constant talking point” when they go door knocking.

Their chances appear to have been bolstered by the popularity of new leader Zack Polanski, a former Liberal Democrat who has taken the party in a staunchly left-wing direction, advocating for wealth taxes, nationalisation, and asylum rights.

When he assumed the leadership in September, Polanski boldly stated the Greens “weren’t here to be disappointed by Labour, but here to replace them”. 

And as Green Party membership across England and Wales went past 150,000 last month, eclipsing the Conservative Party, with polls showing the left-wing “eco-populist” party at a record 15%, Polanski’s claim doesn’t appear to be as bold as once thought. 

And it is diverse and urban areas like Waltham Forest where Polanski’s message appears to be cutting through the most; the Greens say membership here has surged from 630 in September to over 1,400 today, a 122% increase.

In the 2022 local elections, Green Party candidates were the losing candidates with the most votes in 12 of 22 Waltham Forest wards in 2022, seven of which were in Walthamstow. 

That year Solène Fabios stood in her home ward of Lea Bridge as an independent on a platform “almost identical” to the Greens in those elections, gaining 920 votes – 651 more than the third placed candidate, a Conservative.

She says she recently joined the Greens because of their “flexibility” and “encouragement of independent thinking” which aligns with her experienced environmental campaigning in favour of protecting green space from overdevelopment.

Solène explains: “The Green Party doesn’t whip, so it means I can be as vocal as I want on any subject without fearing consequences which is the complete opposite of what it’s like to be a Labour councillor.”

Walthamstow resident and Green Party member Demetrius Williams says he was pulled to the Greens as the Labour Party moved to the right under leader Sir Keir Starmer. 

“Corbyn represents the values I believe in but now I see that Zack [Polanski] is doing an amazing job at also vocalising them and it’s just great to see how many people are receptive.”

He cautioned against the “defeatist” mindset amongst progressives who believe there is little point in voting for their preferred party under the current first-past-the-post system. 

“If all of us actually voted in alignment with our morals, and beliefs, we’d actually have enough people to win a seat for our party. But I have noticed that people are increasingly seeing mainstream parties for what they are and they are empowered to choose the parties they really want to vote for.”

The Greens face a potential difficulty in recruiting members and votes from ‘Your Party’, the new outfit launched by Corbyn and fellow ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana. 

A very public spat between the pair during the founding of their political party appears to have aided the Greens ascendance however, even if both Polanski and Sultana have spoken of a potential “alliance” to avoid vote splitting in seats one party stands a larger chance of winning than the other.

Many of the 21 members of the Leyton and Wanstead Labour Party who left at the end of September said they would join Your Party rather than the Greens, which speaks to the enduring popularity of Corbynism. 

However, Demetrius says the Greens appear to be gaining the most ground among left-wing or progressive leaning voters especially in his home patch of St James ward in Walthamstow, with “around 60 to 70%” of residents he doorknocked in recent weeks expressing enthusiasm and backing for the Polanski led party.

Solène is set to stand as a Green Party councillor in Lea Bridge next year, and says she would be “very surprised” if they don’t pick up at least one seat in the ward come May, let alone “many” let alone “many” others across the borough.

“We’ve now got an actual campaigning team based here in Waltham Forest, and a party chair. It means that we’re a lot more organised and have been able to print out lots of leaflets and actually speak to people on the doorstep which wasn’t something the Greens really did before here.”

In 2024, the Greens’ Rosalind Rowlands managed to win 9,176 (16.5%) of the vote share in Walthamstow, despite being for all intents and purposes a ‘paper candidate’, running an almost zero-visibility campaign with no canvassing or leafleting. 

Does Solène believe the Greens could eventually win in Walthamstow come the next general election and unseat Stella Creasy? “It’s early days at the moment and it would be challenging because Stella is very anchored in this seat and she’s proactive locally. However, her Labour cloak isn’t helping her and people are turned off by that.”

What she is certain about though is that the Greens will mount a much more visible campaign in Waltham Forest seats, particularly Walthamstow: “You’ll be seeing us around much more, that’s for sure!”

No news is bad news 

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts. 

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less. 

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation. 

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit 

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month.  £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.

More information on supporting us monthly or annually 

More Information about donations