Even for the most stalwart party member, the meteoric rise of popularity for the Green Party since the 2024 General Election would have caught them off guard. After a record-setting performance at the election – 6.8% vote share and four returned MPs – there were questions of how they could ensure they went from strength-to-strength. As it turned out, this came in the form of a new leadership team.

In September 2025, Zack Polanski was elected leader of the Green Party, with Rachel Millward and Mothin Ali elected as co-Deputies. Since then, the Greens are now averaging 15% in national polls, reaching highs of 18% with certain pollsters – and beating Labour in multiple polls.

So how did this happen and how do they take advantage of it to ensure that 15+ percent turns into national conversation and significant seat returns?

To discuss all of this, we’re overjoyed to have Compass Deputy Director Lena Swedlow joined by Green Party Deputy Leader Rachel Millward.

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The elections happening for the Welsh Senedd in 2026 are held at the same time as the English local elections and the vote for the Scottish Parliament – but there’s an argument to be made that they’re by far the most important ones happening on May 7th.

Since it was first elected in 1999, Labour have been the story of Wales. They have held a plurality of seats and have formed all Welsh Governments, be that majority, minority or coalition. They’ve never received less than 29.6% of the vote in either the constituency or regional list ballots.

Yet, four months out, opinion polls have them as low as 10%.

In their place stand two diametrically opposed forces: on one side, as in all British politics, stand the right-wing Reform, polling near 30%.

And on the other stands the Party of Wales, Plaid Cymru. They currently lead polls with highs of 33% and took one of their biggest scalps back in October, beating the surging Reform in the Caerphilly by-election for a Westminster MP.

The addition of a completely new voting system for the Senedd adds a wrinkle to proceedings also, as it moves to a closed-list proportional system in 16 constituencies across the country.

With the country on a precipice, we were joined by the Leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth, to discuss what the future of Wales looks like and what Plaid Cymru’s plan is should they be successful in May.

Rhun has been the Leader of Plaid since 2023, before which he was Deputy Leader for five years, and has served as Member of the Senedd for Ynys Môn since 2013. Before this, he worked as a journalist, becoming BBC Wales’s Chief Political Correspondent in 2001, a post he held for five years, before moving into presenting roles.

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The elections happening for the Welsh Senedd in 2026 are held at the same time as the English local elections and the vote for the Scottish Parliament – but there’s an argument to be made that they’re by far the most important ones happening on May 7th.

Since it was first elected in 1999, Labour have been the story of Wales. They have held a plurality of seats and have formed all Welsh Governments, be that majority, minority or coalition. They’ve never received less than 29.6% of the vote in either the constituency or regional list ballots.

Yet, four months out, opinion polls have them as low as 10%.

In their place stand two diametrically opposed forces: on one side, as in all British politics, stand the right-wing Reform, polling near 30%.

And on the other stands the Party of Wales, Plaid Cymru. They currently lead polls with highs of 33% and took one of their biggest scalps back in October, beating the surging Reform in the Caerphilly by-election for a Westminster MP.

The addition of a completely new voting system for the Senedd adds a wrinkle to proceedings also, as it moves to a closed-list proportional system in 16 constituencies across the country.

With the country on a precipice, we were joined by the Leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth, to discuss what the future of Wales looks like and what Plaid Cymru’s plan is should they be successful in May.

Rhun has been the Leader of Plaid since 2023, before which he was Deputy Leader for five years, and has served as Member of the Senedd for Ynys Môn since 2013. Before this, he worked as a journalist, becoming BBC Wales’s Chief Political Correspondent in 2001, a post he held for five years, before moving into presenting roles.

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The New Year is, understandably, a time for both self-reflection and for figuring out the future. With January comes confronting what you might want to happen in your life.

But in politics, what you want to happen and what you think is going to happen can be two very separate things. With some pivotal local elections coming in May, and both the Welsh Senedd and Scottish Parliament facing significant changes in composition, we’re convening some voices to have a go at predicting just what is going to happen this year.

We were delighted to be joined by previous It’s Bloody Complicated guest, Member of Parliament for Brent East, Dawn Butler. With over 20 years of experience in Parliament, Dawn knows a thing or two about how political years pan out.

But before this, the Compass team joined the call to provide an update on their work from the end of the year and for where their priorities lie going into 2026. 

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The launch of Mainstream, the election of Zack Polanski as Green Party leader, Angela Rayner’s resignation and Peter Mandelson’s sacking – just some of the headline events of another chaotic year in British politics.

2025 may not have had a General Election like last year, but the first full year of a Labour government since 2009 was never going to be dull. At this time of year it’s good to take stock of just what happened so that we can all launch into making 2026 something very special.

On It’s Bloody Complicated, we were delighted to be joined by two dynamic, respected voices in the journalist scene to have a look back at the political year that was 2025: Emma Burnell and Gaby Hinsliff.

Emma Burnell is the Editor of LabourList, taking over the role in September. She has worked with the affiliated Fabian Society for four years as their media consultant, and has also been a consultant for Labour’s Environment Campaign SERA for the last year and a half. She previously served on the National Policy Forum as Socialist Societies representative, and served on the executive committees of Labour Housing Group, SERA and Labour Women’s Network. Burnell has worked in political and campaign communications for over 20 years, bringing her expertise and insight to issues as diverse as social housing, devolution and the environmental and climate crisis.

Gaby Hinsliff is a columnist and feature writer with over 17 years’ experience covering politics and public policy for a range of British media. She currently writes weekly columns for The Guardian and for Grazia magazine, plus a range of freelance writing and broadcasting, and was the youngest ever political editor of a British national newspaper when she became Editor of The Observer in 2004.

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Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's new political party - now officially named Your Party - had its founding conference at the end of November.

In fashion that is seemingly becoming typical with the organisation, the conference wasn't without its difficulties, with arguments over access, disputes over positioning and Sultana ending up boycotting the first day.

But the new leftist party are officially founded and will be a force in British politics going forward. So what is going on inside the fledgling group and how can they end up operating with the rest of the progressive side of the spectrum?

To discuss it all, Compass Director Neal Lawson is joined by Deputy Editor of The House Magazine, Sienna Rodgers, and organiser and co-host of the Life of the Party podcast Joe Todd.

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The 2025 Budget was set up to be the most important since at least the Truss-Kwarteng mega-failure of 2022. It’s Labour’s first attempt to set a full, multi-year spanning agenda since 2007. In the build-up to it every possible financial lever has been floated as on the table: income tax rises, changes to national insurance and VAT, windfall taxes on banks or the gambling industry, to name a few.

What the Chancellor eventually decides to do will have serious ramifications for years to come. So it’s only right that our reactive episode of It’s Bloody Complicated treats this moment with the seriousness it deserves.

This episode was hosted by Clive Lewis, Labour Member of Parliament for Norwich South, as he gave his own insight into what the Budget means and how the PLP have reacted to it.

Joining Clive was Erin Mansell, Head of External Affairs at the Women’s Budget Group, and Michael Jacobs, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Sheffield.

Erin Mansell leads WBG’s influencing work getting their analysis and policy recommendations for a gender equal economy out to as large and diverse audiences as possible. Before joining WBG in October 2022, Erin was responsible for public affairs at Solace Women’s Aid, a specialist domestic abuse and sexual violence charity where she specialised in tackling housing and homelessness issues for survivors of male violence. Prior to that she was Political Advisor and Researcher at the Women’s Equality Party, supporting the Party Leader, developing policies, and campaigning for universal free childcare and an end to violence against women and girls.

Michael Jacobs is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Sheffield. He is a former General Secretary of the Fabian Society (1997-2003) and member of the Council of Economic Advisers at the Treasury (2004-07). He was Special Adviser to Gordon Brown at 10 Downing St from 2007-10. His books include The Green Economy: Environment, Sustainable Development and the Politics of the Future (1991), Paying for Progress: A New Politics of Tax for Public Spending (2000) and Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth (ed, with Mariana Mazzucato. 2016).

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Jamie Driscoll was the Mayor of the North of Tyne between 2019-2024 and a true champion of progressive ideas throughout his political career. In 2023, he was denied the ability to run as Labour’s candidate for the North East Mayoral Election by the Labour NEC – an unprecedented decision for an incumbent Mayor and an inherently political decision. This moment has become one of the key indicators of the direction the Labour Party has moved under the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer.

Since then, Jamie Driscoll has set up the political party Majority to advance progressive ideals up and down the country. With the launch of the new Left party by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, Driscoll has been open about the need and desire for unity, cohesion and cooperation on the Left. This has only been exacerbated by Zack Polanski’s election as leader of the Green Party.

With the threat of Reform lurking and a political system not built to house six legitimate political parties, listen now to hear Neal and Jamie Driscoll discuss exactly what the Left need to do to navigate this fragmented space.

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In the second instalment in this miniseries, Compass Director Neal Lawson sits down to chat to long-time Compass intellectual contributors - and hosts of their own podcast Culture, Power and Politics - Professor Jeremy Gilbert and Professor Alan Finlayson. 

The three discuss the history of factions within the Labour Party, from its inception through the New Labour era and now to the Starmer-McSweeney hyperfaction, and the consequences that has both for the party and for democracy in Britain today.

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Paul Holden's new book, 'The Fraud', has made waves since its publication last month as it lays bare the intrigues, stratagems, and deceits that made Keir Starmer Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.

Paul Holden shows how Starmer has been the frontman for a ruthless, right-wing political project headed by Morgan McSweeney, now chief of staff in Number 10 and arguably the most powerful man in Britain.

McSweeney’s clique often employed dirty tricks to undermine the left-wing Labour leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, fuelling a moral panic over antisemitism and establishing front groups that hobbled prominent independent media outlets in the name of fighting ‘misinformation’.

With the shallow nature of this Labour project now clearly in its final throes, this episode is part of a multi-episode series bringing together how this happened and what can be done to bring the Party back into the hands of those who have its best interests at heart.

You can purchase 'The Fraud' from OR Books here: https://orbooks.com/catalog/the-fraud/.

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