Zack Polanski has admitted he is “tempted” to stand against Keir Starmer in his London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.
The Green leader has presided over a huge increase in party membership – more than 100,000 people have signed up since he was elected two months ago.
Polanski currently sits as a London Assembly member and is not an MP, but he has been open about wanting to run for a seat within parliament.
Pollsters at Find Out Now predicted last month that the Greens could win a whopping 51 seats (up from their current four MPs) – and could even oust the prime minister in a contest.
Starmer secured a majority of 11,572 (30%) in his constituency at the last election, but Labour have experienced a huge drop in popularity since getting into power.
Speaking on her Sunday show, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg asked if Polanski wanted to compete against Starmer personally.
He replied: “It would be very tempting to take Keir Starmer down.
“But actually what I am very doing right now, is right across England and Wales, growing the Green Party. We’ve just hit 175,000 members.”
He added: “I’m tempted to take on any Labour MP who is a disaster and ultimately replace them with a better MP who will stand for people and planet, rather than people with a vested interest.”
However, More in Common’s UK director Luke Tryl questioned whether this would be a good strategy on X.
He wrote: “Not sure why [Polanski] would do this given risk – lots of so-called ‘decapitation strategies’ don’t work.
“Incumbent PMs usually beat national swing, as leader his priority will surely be getting into parliament than taking down a Big Beast & there are far better nearby London prospects.
“Will the Greens want to run a high profile campaign in Holborn and St Pancras, am sure given the profile, but could A) easily end up being a distraction from other prospects. B) For leaders safety first generally better, you don’t want to do well and not get elected yourself.”
While Polanski has been taking the party to unprecedented heights since taking over in September, he has also faced some backlash over his policies.
Former Bank of England economist, Andy Haldane, said the Greens’ plan to borrow as much as the UK needs, but in a different way, was “la-la land economics”.
He told the BBC: “If that was the route to success and growth, we would have long since solved this problem. This is not the time for funny money solutions. It’s time to invest, and that is the only route to getting back to growth.”
Polanski was also criticised after he previously told Sky News he would try to persuade Vladimir Putin to give up his nuclear weapons to bring about world peace.
He said: “I want to see everyone de-nuclearise, including Vladimir Putin.”
