The London borough ready to punish Labour over Starmer and sky-high rents

Disillusioned with Labour, some voters say they have been drawn to the Greens due to issues like expensive, shoddy rental housing and Sir Keir Starmer’s stance on the war in Gaza. A Green victory would be a big upset in a council controlled by Labour since 2002.

‘I’m not like George Finch’

If elected, Law would be one of the youngest council leaders in the country. He says he gets attacked for his age by people who say he “can’t run a council” and is “going to be like George Finch” – the UK’s youngest council leader.

Finch, the 19-year-old Reform leader of Warwickshire County Council, who narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in March.

Law says he is more interested in Finch’s choice of party than his birth certificate. “I don’t think it’s right to just blame his age,” he says. “I think he just happens to be that age.”

He says he doubts accusations that he is inexperienced will “stick”. “If we get Hackney Council and run it poorly for years, attack me as much as you want, I’ll take it,” he says.

Law, who is studying business at SP Jain London School of Management, says he’ll have to “figure out” how to balance his course work with running a council. If elected, he plans to discuss his options with lecturers, potentially doing his studies part-time or leaving the course if it’s not feasible.

Law credits a visit to the town hall in Hackney as the experience that got him involved in politics. “I didn’t know what councillors were, and found out what the Labour one stood for – wasn’t exactly my cup of tea,” he says.

A lifelong Hackney resident, he went to academy schools, where he says he was appalled by an effective ban on “Black hairstyles”. He has also lived in council homes throughout his life, where he describes conditions as “humiliating”. He lives with his grandmother, having moved in with her due to overcrowding in his previous family home.

“My personal experience has been poor quality of housing, mainly things like leaks, mould – my ceiling and walls are ripped right now,” he says. “We don’t even bother to call the housing association, because they don’t respond. People pay rent every single month, they pay council tax every single month, and we get nothing out of it.”

Divisions over the war in Gaza and antisemitism allegations

Law says the war in Gaza has had an impact on rising support for the Greens. He says many voters feel the Government has been “too strict on Palestinian activists” and wants the Government to stop supplying arms to Israel.

The party’s pro-Gaza stance has attracted supporters – but also allegations of antisemitism. Last Thursday, two Green candidates standing for Lambeth council in south London were arrested over alleged antisemitic social media posts. Another Green candidate in Newcastle was accused of antisemitism over posts calling for “every single Zionist” to be killed.

Law says he isn’t familiar with these cases, but defends Zack Polanski when asked about the Green leader’s response to the arrest of a man over the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green, north London.

Polanski reposted a message on X accusing officers of “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by Taser”. He later apologised, saying police responses “need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so”.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley accused Polanski of amplifying “inaccurate and misinformed commentary”, while Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister said he is an “extremist” who “legitimises violence against Jews”.

Having seen the video of the arrest, Law says there are “a lot of questions to be asked about the Met Police”, adding: “I’ve seen my own friends and some family members be kicked, pinned wrongly”.

‘I’m disappointed in Labour’

Despite these controversies, the Greens’ message appears to be resonating with many voters.

Ciara Bains, 29, says she plans to vote Green. She supports plans to make sure the council’s investments don’t support a genocide – as ruled by Amnesty International – in Gaza. “It’s one of the most important things at the moment outside of our own lives here,” she says.

Bains, a project manager, says Polanski, who lives in Hackney, and Zoë Garbett, the Green mayoral candidate and councillor in her ward, are both “actually part of the community”.

The party’s policies on housing – which include improving council homes and supporting rent controls at a national level – appeal to her, too. “My rent is pretty much as much as I could afford in London, and it’s still hard,” she says. “I think they have the goal of keeping that down and keeping it affordable.”

She says she used to vote Labour, but feels disappointed by Labour’s leadership, both locally and nationally, adding: “I don’t feel like they are what they say they are anymore.”

Naomi Filbert, a 27-year-old events worker, is likely to vote Green. “They’re just aligned with things I’m looking for, I guess, just to actually focus a bit more on the environment,” she says. “I think the others claim they are but don’t actually follow up.”

She says mainstream politicians tend to overlook the environment if it “isn’t what’s going to make them money or give them votes”.

‘I’m not voting Green with that idiot in charge’

Others, like Steve Parker, are not convinced. Parker, a 66-year-old retired dustman, plans to vote Reform because he wants “a change” and is “not satisfied with anything at the moment”.

“They may be no good,” he says. “We don’t know, do we? I’m fed up with the run-of-the-mill Labour, Conservatives, and I couldn’t vote Green with the idiot in charge there. He wants to legalise drugs, doesn’t like the royal family.”

A former Tory voter, he says he supports Reform because of pledges to cut immigration.

He says the council has closed some streets to cars, which has increased traffic on the main roads. “Where I live, they’ve shut all the back roads so people who know the area can’t use it as a cut through,” he says.

“They’re saying it’s for cleaner air. What about the poor buggers that live on Graham Road? There’s five times more traffic there, so don’t they count? They can all get carbon monoxide poisoning.”

‘Polanski has a bizarre record’

Bill Bamber, a 74-year-old pensioner, will vote for his independent candidate, who is campaigning against road closures. The former Lib Dem voter says the number of cars near his home has risen tenfold.

“I know that some roads gain and some roads lose,” he says. “Living on a losing road is a bit of a pain and dirty.”

He says he doesn’t think the Greens have their policies “fully worked out”. “It’s irrelevant to the local politics, but Zack Polanski has a rather checkered and bizarre record,” he adds, pointing to his previous claims that hypnosis could increase a woman’s breast size.

Patrick Attaridge, 73, says he is a lifelong Labour voter. “I think they’re doing a good enough job,” he says. “Everyone can say what they’re going to do when they get in, but unfortunately, it changes when people get in. So I’m going to stick with Labour, give them another chance.”

Matt Lorde, 58, says he has “always voted Labour” and thinks they are “best for this area”. Lorde, who is unemployed, lives in a council home and says the housing association that manages it could be a bit better and “more proactive”, but they “do get things done eventually”.

‘Inexperienced candidates making wild promises’

Mayor Caroline Woodley claims Labour is “greener than the Greens”, who do not have the experience needed to run the council. “They would be bringing in people who have never even served as councillors before to run the council,” she says.

She describes Law as a “very bright and ambitious young man.” “He’s one to watch,” she says. “I think he could be a very talented politician. Do I think he could go straight from never being a councillor to being a statutory deputy mayor? I would find that quite surprising.”

She fears that the council’s work will get “thrown away” by inexperienced candidates “making wild promises and pledges”.

Woodley says they have to remind voters that it’s not a national election, adding that there are “marmite” attitudes towards national party leaders. As the first woman elected mayor and council leader of Hackney, she says she finds herself asking voters not to “judge me based on men in Westminster”.