‘Racists Started Hurling Rocks and Abuse at My Family’: New Deputy Green Leader On His Own Experience of Far Right Hate

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Zack Polanski’s landslide election as leader of the Green Party of England & Wales secured a rare raft of headlines for the party. But less noticed was the election of two deputies – both of whom support Polanski’s vision for a more hard-hitting, left-wing approach from the Greens.

Members elected two local councillors as co-deputy leaders. Cllrs Mothin Ali and Rachel Millward will serve alongside new leader Polanski. 

Millward is co-leader of Wealden District Council in Sussex, while Ali is the first Green councillor to represent the diverse, working-class Gipton and Harehills ward in Leeds.

He made ensuring the Greens become a more “working class” party – and shedding its middle-class image – central to his leadership bid. We caught up with him shortly after his election.

Josiah Mortimer: Congratulations Mothin. How are you feeling?

Mothin Ali: Very excited. It’s really positive…There’s hope there.

Josiah Mortimer: You stood on a left-wing, working class platform. You must be encouraged by the fact that Polanski was elected – particularly over his perhaps more moderate opponents?

Mothin Ali: Adrian [Ramsay] and Ellie [Cowns] and Zack bring individual qualities. They’ve got different approaches. Zack is very similar to me in our messaging, so there’s a natural connection there. It’s exciting.

Josiah Mortimer: How do you envisage working together? What do you see changing in the Green Party over the next year or so?

Mothin Ali: We’re going to be a lot more assertive in our approach. Greens are genuinely really nice people, and one of the things about being really nice people is we often avoid confrontation. What we haven’t done in the past is take the fight to Labour, take the fight to Reform, and I think that’s what we’re gearing up for. We’ve got people who are assertive, but also people who can put their message across in a coherent way and in a language that resonates with ordinary people.

Josiah Mortimer: Do you think Greens have been too ‘nice’ traditionally?

Mothin Ali: I’m not going to say that. Greens originate in the Quaker movement and the Quaker movement is always about – we can talk until we find a solution. I like that approach. I’ve used that personally with people who I disagree with, especially on the right, when I’ve been out door-knocking or campaigning. We might not agree on everything, but let’s get talking, at least we understand each other, and even when we disagree, we can disagree with respect.

Josiah Mortimer: A key part of your platform was boosting the Greens among working class people. What are your plans there, and why does it matter to you?

Mothin Ali: The Greens have always traditionally been quite southern-focused and quite middle class. Working class communities, whether they’re ethnic minority communities or white working class communities, have been taken for granted by, traditionally, the Labour Party. A lot of industrial towns have just been forgotten about. That’s not mainly down to Labour – that goes all the way back to Thatcherism, closing down coal mines and not replacing those jobs. We’ve got generations of worklessness, people who have been forgotten.

We’ve got people who’ve always voted Labour, always supported Labour, but have been taken for granted. What we really need is real political hope, and we need people who won’t be manipulated by charlatans like Farage and Rupert Lowe and these snake oil salesmen. 

They take complex problems and wrap them up and say, “Oh, it’s the fault of immigrants. It’s the fault of Muslims. It’s the fault of black and brown people. These are the ones you should be angry at,” when really, whether it’s ethnic minority working class communities or white working class communities, the problems are very similar. We’ve got poor quality housing. We can’t pay our bills. We can’t get access to good education. Our schools are struggling. We can’t get access to decent healthcare.

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Josiah Mortimer

Our problems are very similar. Instead of directing our anger towards the people at the top, the people at the top are trying to cause division amongst us. What we need to do is unite. Right now, the Greens, with this force that we’ve just elected, can really push our message to ordinary people.

Josiah Mortimer: The past few weeks have obviously seen protests against asylum seekers… Do you feel like now is a scary time to be a non-white Brit? Have you experienced an increase in racism?

Mothin Ali: I’ve seen others experience it and I have experienced it myself. I saw a nurse – I think she was from the Philippines – who was attacked in a park by a couple. There was a Sikh taxi driver who was attacked. There were masked men in balaclavas marching through shopping centres. It goes beyond just waving flags. It’s the whole climate of toxicity.

I represent one of the most diverse wards in the country. We