Polanski Compared to Farage.

No doubt about it, Thursday night's local elections were a huge slap in the face for Starmer. Labour saw losses across the country. Though this wasn't a general election, Labour's results were a huge reversal of their 2024 general election landslide that ousted the government of "Wishy Washy" Rishi Sunak. For the Conservatives, their vote was down. That may be a reflection that voters remember that they had 13/14 years in power and did nothing. Kemi Badenoch has been the leader of the Conservatives for a little while, so maybe she's not doing enough to attract back voters who have deserted the Tories for good or for now to Reform UK.

The Lib-Dems, with their dad-like Ed Davey leader, did well. The SNP held on in Scotland, but Reform did well. Labour didn't do that well in Scotland either. Wales saw Plaid Cymru or the WNP (Welsh Nationalist Party) do very well, as did Reform again at Labour's expense.

The two insurgent parties, Reform UK and Greens, did well. Is two-party politics dead, as Zack Polanski claimed? While there was no Green wave as Polanski and others predicted, it doesn't mean the Greens are a busted flush either. The Greens did relatively well.

They took control of hundreds of council seats in urban and progressive areas. They gained their first elected mayors in Hackney and Lewisham in London. Also, in London, they took control of Waltham Forest Borough from Labour. They also captured the Norwich City Council. They made gains in Hastings, Manchester, Salford, and Oxford. This, on top of their historic win in the Gorton and Denton by-election.

The real champions of the night, whether you like it or not, were Reform UK. They took control of Sunderland, Barnsley, and all former Labour heartlands. Newcastle-Under-Lyne, Essex, Suffolk, and they gained control of their first-ever London Borough. They did well in the so-called "Red Wall" areas in the North of England and the Midlands.

On Wednesday night, preceding Thursday's election, the Green Party Leader was on the ITV flagship political programme "The Robert Peston Show". A panel member said Mr. Polanski had similarities to Reform Party Leader Nigel Farage. Both leaders are leading insurgent parties, and some have said Polanski is the "Farage" of the left. Polanski himself has said Farage is a so-called populist. Polanski wants to borrow that from the Reform leader and make himself an eco-populist. However, his populism is a universe away from Farage's form of populism.

Indeed, Mr. Polanski said comparing him to the Reform leader was "deeply unfair". Mr. Polanski said he made mistakes, like when he attacked the Muslim attacker in Golders Green who stabbed two Jewish men. In attacking, I mean verbally. Mr. Polanski did not agree with how Jewish security men took down the Muslim attacker. He said using tasers was enough as the man had gone down, but footage showed these Jewish security men kicking the would-be attacker. However, under pressure, Polanski retracted his criticism. However, he said his mistakes were as nothing compared to the big reveal about Nigel Farage. Where a crypto- billionaire donated £5 million to Reform UK. When Farage appeared after his good showing after Thursday night, he did not answer questions put to him on this matter.

Mr. Polanski was asked questions about trusting politicians. He agreed that trust in politics was paramount. He went on: "More generally, it's important that all of us in public life make sure we act with integrity, we're honest, and we're held accountable".

So is two-party politics dead, to echo Zack Polanski's words? Well, possibly not, but both the Tories and Labour have been put on notice that other parties are available if either Labour or the Conservatives are not coming up to scratch.