Polanski reminds BBC what the ‘local’ in ‘local elections’ means

Zack Polanski sat through several interviews on Monday to promote the Green Party’s local election campaign. The problem is that UK journalists don’t seem to understand what the ‘local’ in ‘local elections’ stands for.

.@ZackPolanski is asked, is it official green party policy to abolish the monarchy?

Sensible answer. pic.twitter.com/QWKMK9y8wy

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 27, 2026

Yeah, abolishing the monarchy is what you would call a ‘national issue’.

Think monarchy, ask locally

Just so it’s clear to any BBC presenters reading, the ‘monarchy’ is another word for the ‘Royal Family’. The head of the family serves as the UK’s head of state, either as a king or queen. This is very much a national thing in that we only have one monarch, and said monarch is the head of state for every British citizen.

The monarchy, then, isn’t relevant to the local elections. We don’t have local kings for councillors to abolish. Instead, councillors are tasked with abolishing things like potholes (we should be so lucky!).

Green Party policy

In the clip at the top, the BBC asked Polanski:

Abolishing the monarchy, is that a Green Party official policy?

Polanski responded:

Well, there’s a difference between what our members vote on and what a policy that is updated and reviewed. But just to answer the direct question, I don’t have any support for the monarchy. And I feel sorry for King Charles today that the prime minister sent him to be paraded for Donald Trump.

We don’t feel sorry for Charles, honestly. After all, our king gave his wretched, nonce brother Andrew over a million quid to silence his accuser, the late Virginia Giuffre.

Polanski continued:

But I don’t think that’s the number one issue at this local election. I think people are worried about their bills.

That’s correct, Zack.

This is a local election for local people; we’ll have no talk of your monarchy here. Or will we?

Cost of living

The BBC seemed pretty determined to keep it off topic, asking next:

So what you’re saying is that the Green Party would look again because it’s had quite an anti-monarchy stance in the past, but maybe relaxing that a bit?

It’s easy to see why the BBC would care so much about the Royal Family. After all, both institutions have a history of covering up for perverts. At the same time, this has absolutely nothing to do with the local elections.

Polanski answered:

Well, it wasn’t actually in the manifesto. So the party is definitely an anti-monarchy party. We don’t support the monarchy.

But also what goes in our manifesto, particularly at local elections, is what people are voting on in 10 days time. And really, that’s looking at reducing their rents, reducing the cost of living.

The monarchy isn’t part of that conversation.

As a wider question, though, no, we don’t support the monarchy.

The Westminster Broadcasting Corporation

The BBC is supposed to be a corporation that broadcasts on behalf of Britain. Too often, however, the station gets locked into issues which are primarily of concern to the Westminster bubble.

Don’t get us wrong, we understand there are citizens who will vote in the local elections based on which party is or isn’t pro-Royal. We just also understand it’s the BBC‘s job to explain to these voters why that’s a boneheaded thing to do.

Featured image via X/ Saul Staniforth