Middle East Eye • April 17, 2026 16:18

Green Party strategist reveals plan for local elections and slams 'sectarian' claims

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Imran Mulla
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Fri, 04/17/2026 - 16:00

Faaiz Hasan, an elections coordinator for the party, speaks to MEE about next month's polls

The Green Party's local elections campaign launch earlier this month (Supplied)
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At the UK's upcoming local elections to take place on 7 May, more than 5,000 seats in 136 councils are up for grabs.

The Green Party is presenting an enormous challenge from the left to the Labour government, in what is shaping up to be the most crucial electoral contest since Keir Starmer became prime minister in July 2024.

Led by Zack Polanski since last summer, the Greens have surged in the polls and in February defeated Labour and Reform in a historic by-election win in Greater Manchester's Gorton and Denton.

On Wednesday, Middle East Eye sat down with Faaiz Hasan, a national elections coordinator for the Green Party and also its London elections coordinator, to discuss its strategy for next month.

Born in Pakistan, Hasan moved to Britain in 1997. He joined the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and left in 2020 after Starmer took over.

"These elections come at a critical time," said Hasan, who was campaign manager for Mothin Ali when he ran successfully to become the Green Party's co-deputy leader last year.

"I think this is the moment that we can actually start putting forward an alternative vision for the country that is not based on blaming migrants, is not based on blaming people of colour or others, but identifies that the real issue is not race, it's class, and the concentration of wealth and power in a very tiny group of people."

The economy is struggling, particularly amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, Labour is flailing in the polls and 70 percent of the public think Starmer is doing a bad job.

Greens, Your Party and Labour backbenchers build anti-war alliance in parliament
Read More »

Hasan himself is standing as a candidate for the Harrow Road ward in Westminster, central London.

"We've been door knocking," he said. "I stood as a by-election candidate there two years ago. We came second from a standing start. So we are quite hopeful this time around.

"But it's a lot of work still to be done. About two years ago, when we were door knocking, people would say: Look, we like you. We like the Greens, you're decent people talking about real issues, but we don't think you are contenders."

Now, however, "because of how we are doing in the polls, how our leadership is getting [covered] in the media, how Labour is falling apart, how Reform has been shown to be very, very ineffective in places that they have won, I think people are willing to give the Greens a chance."

Greens could win nine councils

Hasan said he expects a huge surge in support for the party in next month's elections.

In the east London borough of Newham, Green councillor Areeq Chowdhury's campaign to be mayor is picking up momentum. 

Meanwhile, a former Labour councillor turned Green mayoral candidate, Liam Shrivastava, is hoping the Greens win control of the council and the mayoralty in Lewisham, southeast London. There polls predict that no party will gain overall control. 

Polling nationally suggests the Greens could win up to nine councils, including in Labour strongholds such as Hackney and Lambeth in London.

Faaiz Hasan of the Green Party speaks to Middle East Eye this week (MEE)

The picture is complicated by the presence of Your Party, led by Corbyn, which has adopted a selective approach centred on supporting independent candidates and targeted groups.

In some areas, including Newham, Your Party-backed groups are standing rival candidates to the Greens.

Hasan told MEE he came into politics because he was inspired by Corbyn. "I still have a very high regard for him. I think it's been disappointing for anybody who was left-leaning to see what Your Party has gone through," he said, referring to the seemingly constant civil war taking place in the party.

"I wish them luck, and I hope they resolve these issues. But the electoral timetable is relentless," Hasan said.

In London, he continued, 1,800 seats are up for grabs, "and the Greens are standing in probably 80 or 90 percent of those seats. And in a vast majority of those seats, we are the sole voice against the genocide [in Gaza], proposing, a left-wing solution to the country's problems."

Dealing with Your Party

"We have no quarrel with our friends in Your Party," Hasan explained. "But for this election, we are by far the main army ... pushing back against Reform and pushing back against Labour, and we expect that voters will vote accordingly."

Could there be an electoral alliance with Your Party or with local independents?

"In London, every ward has maybe three candidates," Hasan said. "So there is a way to cooperate without anybody actually stepping away completely from a ward.

"Then we will have London elections where, again, people will have three votes: one for the mayor, one for the regional seat and the third is for the London-wide assembly seat.

'We have no quarrel with our friends in Your Party. But for this election, we are by far the main army'

- Faaiz Hasan, Green Party

"Again, there's ample room for cooperation."

Hasan said that at the next general election it will be essential to cooperate to defeat "the likes of Keir Starmer or Wes Streeting and others" in their constituencies.

MEE recently reported that Streeting, the health secretary, had sent out campaign literature to voters in his east London constituency accusing independent rivals of being "divisive" and "focused on foreign conflicts".

In Birmingham, there are 101 council seats up for grabs. But independent candidates are standing as well as Greens, with polls predicting that there could be no party with a majority. 

"I actually campaigned on a platform of [the need to] build strategic alliances," Hasan said. "And I wish we had done that. I think there will be some areas where we will end up competing against each other, but hopefully in sort of 90 percent of the seats, I think there will be no conflict."

Political realignment

Hasan believes these elections are part of a wider political realignment in Britain.

"We have historically had a first-past-the-post, two-party-dominated system. I think that is gone. If you look at the two [main] parties now, they're polling less than 30 percent combined," he said.

"I think the challenge here is that our political system still rewards the guy who comes first. So we could have a situation where if you have five parties, all polling between 25 and 15, that somebody wins a seat on the back of a 24 percent, 26 percent vote.

Wes Streeting accused of dog whistle politics over campaign letter
Read More »

"And I think that is a real threat to the system," Hasan said. "So we should really be moving towards a proportional representation system. There are various models to make sure we don't hand over absolute power to somebody who has just got 25, 30 percent of the vote."

Hasan told MEE the Greens are focusing on the "cost of living, debt ... housing, rent, the fact that we are paying too much for very poor quality housing, that young people have no chance of getting onto the housing ladder".

"There are other issues in terms of squeezing spending for public services, a continuation of Tory austerity," he added.

Local issues would also be central to local campaigns, he said.

"If my ward is a central London ward, there are issues around anti-social behaviour, about litter on the streets, about people speeding on roads, etc."

Iran war and Gaza

Then there is foreign policy, a prominent focus for the left. The war on Iran and Britain's decision to allow the US to use UK bases to attack Iranian missile sites could be a significant source of discontent among many voters. 

Hasan argued that "there is a lot of overlap between local issues and national issues and international issues. This illegal war in Iran has created a cost of living crisis that will come and hurt each and every one of us. So the idea that this is somehow a conflict far away is just not true."

'This illegal war in Iran has created a cost of living crisis... The idea that this is somehow a conflict far away is just not true'

 - Faaiz Hasan, Green Party

The Greens are also campaigning for councils to divest from pension funds that invest "in companies which profit from the genocide in Gaza, which profit from the destruction of the planet, oil and gas companies and arms manufacturers".

Hasan argued that Britain's "reliance on oil and gas may keep us very vulnerable. If we had invested far more in renewable energy we would be less exposed".

Labour is reportedly campaigning on Starmer not having taken the UK into the war, but Hasan told MEE the Greens are planning to challenge that claim.

"Starmer has still allowed the use of UK bases. Literally every day American bombers were taking off with their payloads of destruction and bombing Iran. And I think that's completely unacceptable."

Challenging 'sectarianism' claims

Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, has been leading most polls for over a year and is looking at the May elections as its chance to take over as many local councils as possible.

Polling suggests the right-wing party could win as many as 17 councils and 1,500 councillors.

Reform accused the Greens of engaging in "sectarian" politics after Green candidate Hannah Spencer beat Reform's Matt Goodwin in February's by-election in Gorton and Denton. 

Hasan dismissed the accusation. "I think they're sore losers," he said. "They got very upset when we started using some multi-language leaflets, which had information written in English, but also in Bangla, in Urdu."

He noted that political parties "have used multi-language materials since the 1960s ... the reality is, Reform has been attacking the migrant community, the Muslim community.

The Green Party has been accused of sectarianism. This is why that's wrong
Read More »

"When you have a party which is deliberately stoking hatred against a particular community, we should not be surprised that that community does not like that party and votes against that party."

He described Reform's "sectarianism" allegations as "attempts to deliberately discredit the democratic system when the results go against them."There was a large Muslim community in Gorton and Denton. They ended up voting for a white blond working-class woman and a party which was led by a Jewish man. I think we should welcome that."

Likewise, Hasan dismissed claims that the issue of the Gaza genocide - on which the Greens are campaigning - is a niche and purely Muslim concern. 

"It affects each and every one of us," Hasan insisted. "If you look at some of the pro-Palestine, anti-genocide marches, it's an incredibly diverse group of people.

"It's people of all religions and none. There are all colours, all backgrounds, all age groups.

"There is always a large Jewish contingent. There's a large LGBTQ contingent. So to portray this as something only a small group of Muslims cared about is deeply wrong."

UK Politics

News

Post Date Override
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Update Date
Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19

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Green Party strategist reveals plan for local elections and slams 'sectarian' claims Submitted by Imran Mulla on Fri, 04/17/2026 - 16:00 Faaiz Hasan, an elections coordinator for the party, speaks to MEE about next month's polls The Green Party's local elections campaign launch earlier this month (Supplied) Off At the UK's upcoming local elections to take place on 7 May, more than 5,000 seats in 136 councils are up for grabs. The Green Party is presenting an enormous challenge from the left to the Labour government, in what is shaping up to be the most crucial electoral contest since Keir Starmer became prime minister in July 2024. Led by Zack Polanski since last summer, the Greens have surged in the polls and in February defeated Labour and Reform in a historic by-election win in Greater Manchester's Gorton and Denton. On Wednesday, Middle East Eye sat down with Faaiz Hasan, a national elections coordinator for the Green Party and also its London elections coordinator, to discuss its strategy for next month. Born in Pakistan, Hasan moved to Britain in 1997. He joined the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and left in 2020 after Starmer took over. "These elections come at a critical time," said Hasan, who was campaign manager for Mothin Ali when he ran successfully to become the Green Party's co-deputy leader last year. "I think this is the moment that we can actually start putting forward an alternative vision for the country that is not based on blaming migrants, is not based on blaming people of colour or others, but identifies that the real issue is not race, it's class, and the concentration of wealth and power in a very tiny group of people." The economy is struggling, particularly amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, Labour is flailing in the polls and 70 percent of the public think Starmer is doing a bad job. Greens, Your Party and Labour backbenchers build anti-war alliance in parliament Read More » Hasan himself is standing as a candidate for the Harrow Road ward in Westminster, central London. "We've been door knocking," he said. "I stood as a by-election candidate there two years ago. We came second from a standing start. So we are quite hopeful this time around. "But it's a lot of work still to be done. About two years ago, when we were door knocking, people would say: Look, we like you. We like the Greens, you're decent people talking about real issues, but we don't think you are contenders." Now, however, "because of how we are doing in the polls, how our leadership is getting [covered] in the media, how Labour is falling apart, how Reform has been shown to be very, very ineffective in places that they have won, I think people are willing to give the Greens a chance." Greens could win nine councils Hasan said he expects a huge surge in support for the party in next month's elections. In the east London borough of Newham, Green councillor Areeq Chowdhury's campaign to be mayor is picking up momentum.  Meanwhile, a former Labour councillor turned Green mayoral candidate, Liam Shrivastava, is hoping the Greens win control of the council and the mayoralty in Lewisham, southeast London. There polls predict that no party will gain overall control.  Polling nationally suggests the Greens could win up to nine councils, including in Labour strongholds such as Hackney and Lambeth in London. Faaiz Hasan of the Green Party speaks to Middle East Eye this week (MEE) The picture is complicated by the presence of Your Party, led by Corbyn, which has adopted a selective approach centred on supporting independent candidates and targeted groups. In some areas, including Newham, Your Party-backed groups are standing rival candidates to the Greens. Hasan told MEE he came into politics because he was inspired by Corbyn. "I still have a very high regard for him. I think it's been disappointing for anybody who was left-leaning to see what Your Party has gone through," he said, referring to the seemingly constant civil war taking place in the party. "I wish them luck, and I hope they resolve these issues. But the electoral timetable is relentless," Hasan said. In London, he continued, 1,800 seats are up for grabs, "and the Greens are standing in probably 80 or 90 percent of those seats. And in a vast majority of those seats, we are the sole voice against the genocide [in Gaza], proposing, a left-wing solution to the country's problems." Dealing with Your Party "We have no quarrel with our friends in Your Party," Hasan explained. "But for this election, we are by far the main army ... pushing back against Reform and pushing back against Labour, and we expect that voters will vote accordingly." Could there be an electoral alliance with Your Party or with local independents? "In London, every ward has maybe three candidates," Hasan said. "So there is a way to cooperate without anybody actually stepping away completely from a ward. "Then we will have London elections where, again, people will have three votes: one for the mayor, one for the regional seat and the third is for the London-wide assembly seat. 'We have no quarrel with our friends in Your Party. But for this election, we are by far the main army' - Faaiz Hasan, Green Party "Again, there's ample room for cooperation." Hasan said that at the next general election it will be essential to cooperate to defeat "the likes of Keir Starmer or Wes Streeting and others" in their constituencies. MEE recently reported that Streeting, the health secretary, had sent out campaign literature to voters in his east London constituency accusing independent rivals of being "divisive" and "focused on foreign conflicts". In Birmingham, there are 101 council seats up for grabs. But independent candidates are standing as well as Greens, with polls predicting that there could be no party with a majority.  "I actually campaigned on a platform of [the need to] build strategic alliances," Hasan said. "And I wish we had done that. I think there will be some areas where we will end up competing against each other, but hopefully in sort of 90 percent of the seats, I think there will be no conflict." Political realignment Hasan believes these elections are part of a wider political realignment in Britain. "We have historically had a first-past-the-post, two-party-dominated system. I think that is gone. If you look at the two [main] parties now, they're polling less than 30 percent combined," he said. "I think the challenge here is that our political system still rewards the guy who comes first. So we could have a situation where if you have five parties, all polling between 25 and 15, that somebody wins a seat on the back of a 24 percent, 26 percent vote. Wes Streeting accused of dog whistle politics over campaign letter Read More » "And I think that is a real threat to the system," Hasan said. "So we should really be moving towards a proportional representation system. There are various models to make sure we don't hand over absolute power to somebody who has just got 25, 30 percent of the vote." Hasan told MEE the Greens are focusing on the "cost of living, debt ... housing, rent, the fact that we are paying too much for very poor quality housing, that young people have no chance of getting onto the housing ladder". "There are other issues in terms of squeezing spending for public services, a continuation of Tory austerity," he added. Local issues would also be central to local campaigns, he said. "If my ward is a central London ward, there are issues around anti-social behaviour, about litter on the streets, about people speeding on roads, etc." Iran war and Gaza Then there is foreign policy, a prominent focus for the left. The war on Iran and Britain's decision to allow the US to use UK bases to attack Iranian missile sites could be a significant source of discontent among many voters.  Hasan argued that "there is a lot of overlap between local issues and national issues and international issues. This illegal war in Iran has created a cost of living crisis that will come and hurt each and every one of us. So the idea that this is somehow a conflict far away is just not true." 'This illegal war in Iran has created a cost of living crisis... The idea that this is somehow a conflict far away is just not true'  - Faaiz Hasan, Green Party The Greens are also campaigning for councils to divest from pension funds that invest "in companies which profit from the genocide in Gaza, which profit from the destruction of the planet, oil and gas companies and arms manufacturers". Hasan argued that Britain's "reliance on oil and gas may keep us very vulnerable. If we had invested far more in renewable energy we would be less exposed". Labour is reportedly campaigning on Starmer not having taken the UK into the war, but Hasan told MEE the Greens are planning to challenge that claim. "Starmer has still allowed the use of UK bases. Literally every day American bombers were taking off with their payloads of destruction and bombing Iran. And I think that's completely unacceptable." Challenging 'sectarianism' claims Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, has been leading most polls for over a year and is looking at the May elections as its chance to take over as many local councils as possible. Polling suggests the right-wing party could win as many as 17 councils and 1,500 councillors. Reform accused the Greens of engaging in "sectarian" politics after Green candidate Hannah Spencer beat Reform's Matt Goodwin in February's by-election in Gorton and Denton.  Hasan dismissed the accusation. "I think they're sore losers," he said. "They got very upset when we started using some multi-language leaflets, which had information written in English, but also in Bangla, in Urdu." He noted that political parties "have used multi-language materials since the 1960s ... the reality is, Reform has been attacking the migrant community, the Muslim community. The Green Party has been accused of sectarianism. This is why that's wrong Read More » "When you have a party which is deliberately stoking hatred against a particular community, we should not be surprised that that community does not like that party and votes against that party." He described Reform's "sectarianism" allegations as "attempts to deliberately discredit the democratic system when the results go against them."There was a large Muslim community in Gorton and Denton. They ended up voting for a white blond working-class woman and a party which was led by a Jewish man. I think we should welcome that." Likewise, Hasan dismissed claims that the issue of the Gaza genocide - on which the Greens are campaigning - is a niche and purely Muslim concern.  "It affects each and every one of us," Hasan insisted. "If you look at some of the pro-Palestine, anti-genocide marches, it's an incredibly diverse group of people. "It's people of all religions and none. There are all colours, all backgrounds, all age groups. "There is always a large Jewish contingent. There's a large LGBTQ contingent. So to portray this as something only a small group of Muslims cared about is deeply wrong." UK Politics News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

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Fri 16:18 - Middle East Eye

Green Party strategist reveals plan for local elections and slams 'sectarian' claims