The Green Party will conduct a sweeping review of its policies after the Daily Mail exposed a series of Zack Polanski’s controversial plans for Britain.
Proposals to abolish the monarchy, give illegal migrants a free house and a wage with no work requirements, and to slash the speed limit are set to be reviewed.
It comes after the Greens were criticised over a series of policies unearthed by the Mail – including plans to cut the motorway speed limit to 55mph and slash the size of the armed forces.
‘Right now it’s like we’ve got a list of policies for the Daily Mail to ring us up about,’ one Green official moaned to the Politico news site.
Another source said the Greens’ immigration policy – which states the party wants ‘a world without borders’ – has been going down particularly badly on the doorstep and has been earmarked for review.
Under the Greens’ policy illegal migrants would be given a free house, paid a wage with no requirements to work, and have access to the NHS for free the moment they landed in Britain.
The party’s transport policy – which proposes cutting the motorway speed limit by 15mph and forcing motorists to re-take their driving test every five years – is also among those set to be reviewed.
Other policies that have drawn criticism include plans to drastically cut Britain’s armed forces and scrap the nuclear deterrent under the Greens ‘non-offensive defence strategy’.
The Green Party will conduct a sweeping review of its policies – after its officials moaned that ‘right now it’s like we’ve got a list of policies for the Daily Mail to ring us up about’
Zack Polanski, and Gorton and Denton Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer, pose for a picture on January 30
However officials insist they won’t bow to pressure on certain policies including plans to legalise heroin, crack cocaine and even date-rape drug GHB – with reform of drug laws said to still be strongly supported by the party’s leadership.
Mr Polanski said he is looking to revise the party’s ‘democratised’ system that sees members, rather than the leadership, set the policy agenda at the Green’s annual conference.
The Green leader indicated that he is supporting efforts to make the policymaking process more ‘streamlined’ and less ‘Byzantine’, although insisted members will still have a say.
Mr Polanski told Politico: ‘Our policy making process came about when we had something like 20,000 members. We just hit 226,000, so in terms of how the conference process works, I think the obvious place I would start is – it’s not working as well as it should at the moment.’
A Green source confirmed ‘there are conversation happening’ about reviewing the party’s policies owing to ‘frustrations’ about the more controversial proposals cutting through to voters.
However they said there is currently ‘not a settled plan’ about when this will happen and insisted that the party will not stop members having a say over policymaking.
The source added: ‘But generally there’s an awareness that perhaps it’s time to review how these things work and what the current policies are.’
