Green party sources said local party members would have the final say on the selected candidate, but the Guardian understands local members are supportive of Polanski running, with no clear local activist with significant support expected to oppose him. It is understood nominations will open soon and candidates will be selected by the end of next week.<\/p>\n
Lorna Jane Russell, the leader of the Greens on the local Camden council, will not stand, having previously expressed a desire to focus on her role as the leader of the opposition at Camden Town Hall and her pregnancy.<\/p>\n
On the anniversary of his election on 2 September 2025, Polanski said the byelection would be a \u201creferendum on ending rip-off Britain\u201d, adding: \u201cI am very excited for the next chapter for myself, for the Greens and for people across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sources inside the party in London said that the rise in membership since Polanski became leader<\/a> made him the favourite for the role.<\/p>\n \u201cThere would be a lot of excitement about him standing,\u201d said one Green party source. \u201cThis is the kind of seat that has always had high-profile figures and I think having someone with Zack\u2019s profile would play very well with local party members.\u201d<\/p>\n The move is not without risk for Polanski, with the former prime minister\u2019s seat traditionally considered to be safe for Labour. The Green party leader may prefer to contest a seat in Hackney, where the party has recently won the mayoralty<\/a>, if a sitting MP such as Diane Abbott were to step down. In a difficult political climate in the May local elections, Labour lost seats but held on to Camden council. \u201cThis is not Gorton and Denton,\u201d said one Labour source. \u201cThe Burnham bounce will help.\u201d<\/p>\n Tulip Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, said party members were already out campaigning and were confident they could retain the seat. \u201cI know Camden through and through and I do believe that we can win this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Siddiq added: \u201cI think the Labour<\/a> vote is resilient and I think Andy Burnham\u2019s pledges on the doorstep are being gratefully received by people in Camden. Certainly I\u2019ll be out campaigning every day and giving it my best shot.\u201d<\/p>\n Labour will not run an all-women shortlist and will announce their candidate by next Wednesday, with applications closing on Friday and shortlisting expected by the start of next week.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to First Edition<\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The frontrunner is thought to be Sagal Abdi-Wali, who came to the UK as a child refugee from Somalia and has been the leader of Camden council since May<\/a>. \u201cShe\u2019s got a compelling personal story and can reach people from all faiths and backgrounds in Camden,\u201d said one Labour source. \u201cShe\u2019s also been really active in the local party for a long time. Lots of people know her and like her.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam Hug, the former leader of Westminster council who lost his job leading the council when the Conservatives took control of it in May\u2019s local election<\/a>, is also a mooted name. Other possible candidates are Nash Ali, the former mayor of Camden, and Rishi Madlani, a former Camden councillor.<\/p>\n Abdi-Wali is close to Starmer and local Labour sources said any attempts to bring in a candidate not from the area would be met with fierce criticism. \u201cIt will be interesting to see if Burnham has the same appeal in north London<\/a> as Makerfield,\u201d said one. \u201cA lot of the policies he\u2019s been talking about feel more geared towards the rest of the country, not really London.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zack Polanski moved a step closer in his quest to become an MP on Wednesday, with local Green…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-758098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788381626_691_1000.jpg\")
<\/p>\n