Greens’ Polanski prepared to work with Burnham but not Starmer ‘to stop Reform’ | Zack Polanski

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said he would refuse to work with Keir Starmer but could work with Starmer’s potential Labor leadership rival Andy Burnham to keep Reform out of power.

Polanski said he would not enter into a political partnership with Labor under the current prime minister, but would consider it if the mayor of Greater Manchester took over.

He told the Financial Times: “I could see the potential of working with Andy Burnham to stop reform and challenge the rise of the far right. I would rule that out with Keir Starmer but I wouldn’t rule it out with Burnham.”

The coalition would require the Greens to win a sufficient number of seats at the next general election for the party to be useful to Labour, and would also require Burnham to win a seat as an MP once again.

Polanski argued that Labour’s economic plan was not working. Besides the wealth tax, he also called for the capital gains tax to be increased to bring it in line with the income tax. “I am challenging a broken, failed economic model, and those who defend it have no choice but to continue with the broken one,” he said.

But Gary Lineker defended the prime minister in an interview Polanski said he had met Starmer “two or three times” and “he seems like a very nice guy”.

“I think he’s going through tough times. He’s obviously not a very charismatic leader, but I don’t think that matters,” the football commentator and TV presenter said.

Speaking to Zack Polanski on the podcast Brave Politics, Lineker said the BBC had “taken too much political influence from the highest levels” and that the organization was “tied in knots” over impartiality.

The former Match of the Day presenter, who left the BBC earlier this year, said he had a “great affinity” with the organisation, but said: “I think they’re taking a bit of a broad view on this whole impartiality issue and that makes it very, very difficult for them.”

Lineker said that in recent years impartiality had spread beyond news and current affairs to the rest of the BBC. “Even though we had been on social media for years, we were expected to suddenly change. And I thought it was difficult,” she said.

“Overall, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of people who work for the BBC and are really good people who do excellent work. But I think it’s kind of tangled up in this issue of impartiality because I think what we really need is truth and reporting in that sense. It’s impossible to be impartial on everything.”

He added: “My personal problems were difficult, spanning a long period of time.”

Lineker said the way the government decides who will be on the BBC’s board and who will be its chairman should be done from a more “impartial” perspective, because the people politicians bring in “will of course be biased”.

“If they’re going to talk about impartiality, start at the top,” he said. “It’s incredibly difficult for the BBC, but I think there’s a lot of political influence from the top at the moment.”

Polanski asked the presenter why he was so outspoken about immigration.

“I know it’s an issue, immigration, I know it’s hard, you can’t take everybody, but I think we’ve got to do our part and take care of people,” Lineker said.

“I empathize with their situation. I think there’s a small percentage who are the exact opposite, so I felt like it was pretty important to use my platform to speak up for those who maybe don’t have a voice.”

Even though he has received backlash from the right online for being a football player, “you learn to deal with the abuse”. He said: “I took that as a compliment.”

Lineker said he wanted to see “real peace” in Gaza by 2026.

“We have a ceasefire, but it’s not a full ceasefire right now,” he said. “I’ve talked about this a lot and I look at my phone every day and most of the time I cry when I see it. I mean the killing of innocent children. [with] snipers and bombs. “This is immeasurably wrong.”

And he added: “And of course Israel has the right to defend itself. So why doesn’t Palestine have the right to defend itself? No.”

Lineker, who has faced criticism for speaking out about the situation of Palestinians in Gaza, said: “People will oppose it and try to stir up controversy, but I always tell them, if you really think it’s made up, let the journalists in.”