As the Greens aim to seize the progressive mantle, a well-meaning gender rule risks becoming a straitjacket

The Green Party of England and Wales has never been closer to breaking through as the leading force on the UK’s progressive left.

With four MPs, a record haul of local councillors, and public anger rising over climate, inequality – and Labour’s drift to the centre – the Greens should be poised to rally disillusioned voters into a radical new bloc.

But just as the party faces this historic opening, it is bumping up against an obstacle of its own making.

Deputy leader Zack Polanski’s bid to take over the top job comes with a bold message: the Greens must be louder, sharper, and more populist if they are to challenge not just the two-party system but the insurgent right-wing energy of Reform UK.

Yet under the party’s rules, Polanski can’t simply step into Carla Denyer’s place after her decision to step down.

Why? Because the Greens’ co-leadership system requires one man and one woman at the helm — and the other current co-leader, Adrian Ramsay, is also a man.

This leaves the Greens in an awkward position. Either Polanski forces Ramsay out or finds a female running mate to replace him, or he runs as sole leader, a less tested model in a party that prides itself on shared leadership.

A rule designed to protect inclusivity and gender balance — laudable goals — has become, in practice, a political cage.

It’s a revealing moment.

The Greens have long stood for participatory democracy and progressive values, but they now risk being outpaced by the very forces they claim to represent.

Voters frustrated with the cautious centrism of Labour and the Liberals are looking for a movement with momentum, not one bogged down in internal process.

If the Greens want to be the vanguard of a new left, they will have to prove they can be nimble, not just principled.

That may mean rethinking rules made for a smaller, more idealistic party — and recognising that leadership flexibility is not the enemy of diversity but its enabler.

The coming leadership contest isn’t just a personnel change.

It’s a test of whether the Greens can seize the moment — or whether, in a political landscape reshaped by populism, they’ll end up stuck on the sidelines – by their own design.