Green Party leader Zack Polanski has faced criticism for sharing an Instagram image featuring a guillotine and the phrase “We’re Only Making Plans for Nigel”, prompting Reform UK to accuse him of inciting murder and Nigel Farage to call for his arrest. The Metropolitan Police said it would not investigate, but commentators argued that Polanski’s description of the post as an inadvertent mistake, without an apology, prolonged the controversy and raised doubts about the party’s readiness for greater scrutiny.

The article links the incident to an earlier apology by Polanski over a post criticising the Metropolitan Police after the Golders Green terror attack. On The Independent’s podcast, former officials Helen MacNamara and Cleo Watson said the Greens’ rising membership and polling support had exposed a tension between its traditional local, environmental campaigning and a newer, more confrontational online style; Watson also cited YouGov figures suggesting Green support among 18-to-24-year-olds had fallen from 46 per cent to 26 per cent.