Polanski heckled at Jewish community hustings after saying that Zionism is a form of racism – UK politics live

The Green leader, who is Jewish, made the remarks as part of his campaign in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection

Morning, and welcome to our UK politics live blog.

Zack Polanski declared himself an anti-Zionist and faced heckling at a Jewish community hustings in Holborn and St Pancras, where the Green party leader is standing as a candidate in next month’s byelection.

A Green official said that many activists loyal to the party’s leadership might not be at the autumn conference because it takes place a week before voting in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, in which Polanski hopes to take Keir Starmer’s old seat from Labour, potentially leaving more scope for others to push through the motion.

“The risk is that if it passes as it is we are alienating ourselves from the Jewish community in the UK, a lot of whom are not big fans of the current Israeli government,” a Green source said.