The Green Party’s autumn conference has opened at the Bournemouth International Centre, with party members told that “the Green Party’s hour has arrived.”
BCP Green Party group leader Councillor Chris Rigby, who represents Winton East, opened the three-day conference by celebrating record membership numbers. More than 80,000 people have now joined the Green Party, an increase of nearly 20 percent since Zack Polanski was elected leader in September.
Councillor Rigby told delegates: “Bournemouth is truly a global town with people moving here from all over the world. In the face of nationalism, I think it is important to say now wherever you choose to call home, is your home.”
Reflecting on local growth, he said the party had expanded from one councillor to six in Bournemouth. “It’s no coincidence that all of these wards are bordering each other,” he added, “and we all like to call it the green heart of Bournemouth.”
Councillor Rigby then introduced Bristol Central MP and former co-leader Carla Denyer, who praised the unity and focus of the party in Parliament. She described the Green Party as “ready with a bold, refreshing and positive vision, an antidote to the creeping politics of hate, division and managed decline.”
Denyer said Zack Polanski’s “courage and conviction are already making a difference,” ahead of his keynote speech.
In his address, Polanski said: “This is the Green Party’s hour. If there was ever a time to join us, it is now.” He urged members to be bold ahead of the next local elections in May 2026 and said the party was ready to challenge Labour’s “arrogant assumptions” about voters.
He pledged to bring down household bills by taxing the wealthiest one percent, describing the party’s aim to create “a country we can all afford to live in.” Polanski also spoke passionately about migration, saying it had helped make both the country and the Green Party what they are today.
“The Greens won’t dance to the tune of a Trump-loving, tax-avoiding, science-denying, NHS-dismantling corporate stooge,” he said. “We will say it loud and clear – migrants and refugees are welcome here.”
He also criticised the government’s restrictions on protest and warned that “alarm bells of authoritarianism are now ringing.”
Councillor Rigby later told the Local Democracy Reporter Service that the party’s success was built on consistency and community work. “Residents really see what’s going on in their neighbourhoods. When they see positive change in one ward, they want that too, and hopefully we can bring that. We don’t have to be elected to make a difference – we’re always there, working hard.”
Polanski closed the conference’s opening day with a clear message: “The Green Party are not messing around. We are here and we are ready to win.”
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