London mayor Sadiq Khan mocked Green Party leader Zack Polanski during Mayor's Question Time by responding to him in Urdu, following Polanski's release of a by-election campaign video in the South Asian language. Polanski is standing as the Green candidate for Holborn and St Pancras in an October 8 by-election triggered by former prime minister Keir Starmer's resignation as the local MP. The exchange highlights a broader dispute over multilingual political campaigning, with Polanski subsequently releasing a French-language video in apparent response to Conservative criticism.

Conservative politicians, including Tory shadow ministers Katie Lam and Helen Whately, have condemned the use of foreign languages in campaigning, arguing that politics should be conducted in English. However, census data reveals the strategic limitations of Polanski's linguistic choices: just 156 residents of the constituency speak Urdu as their main language, compared to 2,488 French speakers, and fewer than 1 per cent are Pakistani. The Green Party has defended the approach as reflecting London's diversity and democratic inclusivity, arguing they aim to reach voters in languages they speak, whilst critics view it as divisive identity politics.