The Green Party is on a warpath with the media as it unleashes a censorship policy blitz

Max Thompson

19 August 2026

Yet again, the Green Party has shown its systemic problem with free speech. Once again, it has Britain's free press in its sights.

Britain has had a long and proud history of press freedom. A free press is a central pillar to any self-respecting, functioning democratic society. But it appears that the leader of the Green Party, Zack Polanski, does not seem able to understand that—or worse, does not care. Indeed, it appears that a number of its members do not seem to care either.

Zack Polanski has taken to X and posted, "It's time we sorted out the press." He went on to say:

Constant misinformation to protect their donors and fossil fuels is destroying lives and our planet. The Government must step up and stop being cowardly.

One would be forgiven for thinking this is rather authoritarian in nature and ominous in tone. That is because it is.

It is astonishing that a leader of a mainstream political party in Britain is advocating for the strangulation of our free press. It is something that a despot or a Soviet-like dictator would demand.

We are becoming well accustomed to political leaders bashing media outlets, blaming the spread of "misinformation", and attacking the media while failing to engage in debate. We saw this only a few months ago, when the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, blamed the spread of "misinformation" and abuse on X and flounced off the platform, taking her Government department with her.

The Free Speech Union's General Secretary, Lord Young of Acton, has challenged Polanski's claim, arguing that the assertion that the press spreads misinformation is itself misinformation.

In the comments of Polanski's tweet, Polanski urged people to sign two petitions. The first, a petition to the UK Parliament calling for a ban on foreign or offshore media ownership, the establishment of a social media levy, and a sweeping regulatory overhaul, has gained over twenty-six thousand signatures at the time of writing. The second urges the Government to launch an inquiry into the culture and behaviour of the British press, and into "any role it had in the death of Professor Arday."

But it does not stop there. Noa Hoffman of The Spectator has revealed that an emergency motion backed by eighty-nine members has been submitted ahead of the party's Autumn Conference, under the title "Justice for Jason Arday: Stopping Racist Smear Campaigns and Reforming Media Power".

The motion calls for the establishment of two state regulatory services to "map and address racism" and "ableism" in media output, and to monitor "harassment" allegedly arising from coverage.

These alarming proposals would force every major national newspaper to join a state-recognised press regulator with statutory powers. And the already overpowered media regulator, Ofcom, would be given powers to force large social media platforms to remove "hateful, discriminatory and conspiratorial" material, seemingly even where it falls within the bounds of lawful speech. Social media companies would also be required to "promote and protect" a prescribed "diversity of voices".

On top of this package of censorious measures, Hoffman writes:

Green members are demanding that around £1 billion of public money be poured each year into an 'Independent Media Commons' of non-profit and 'public interest' outlets, overseen by national and regional media councils.

This proposed crackdown on free speech, which will be debated at the Green Party's Autumn Conference, was put forward by Tariq Khawaja of Greens for Palestine.

Hoffman writes:

If Britain is to avoid the kind of political and cultural convulsion that afflicted America after the death of George Floyd, measures such as those now being pursued by the Greens should be taken seriously.

The mask has slipped. This is a full-throated endorsement of censorship. It is authoritarian, plain and simple.

Read more in The Spectator.