Zack Polanski has suggested the Labour government is emulating ‘Nazi Germany’ with its changes to the asylum system.
This week, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans to reform the asylum system, with the aim of making it easier to deport people and more difficult for asylum seekers to stay in the UK long-term.
Mahmood has said she is trying to fix a “broken system,” but the plans have sparked discontent among Labour backbenchers and criticism from the likes of Amnesty International.
The latest voice to attack the government has been Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who called the government “inhumane” and “cowards.”
During an appearance on Monday’s Newsnight, Polanski said that Labour MPs should “look at their conscience” when deciding if they back the plans.
The Green leader accused Labour of announcing policies that their supporters didn’t vote for, and labelled the plans ‘extreme and inhumane.’
He continued: “This is a government of cowards. The issue here is not immigration, it’s inequality.
“They went for the pensioners, they went for the disabled, and now they’re going for people fleeing war and conflict.”
Polanski said he and many others were “furious” with the government because the plans are a “totally unconscionable way to deal with things.”
Addressing Mahmood’s defence of the asylum system reform, Polanski asked “how dare she talk about compassion at the same time that they’re talking about seizing people’s assets.”
This was referencing one part of the plans announced by the home secretary which will see asylum seekers have to contribute to the cost of their accommodation. This could emulate the Danish system where asylum seekers must use savings to pay for their accommodation and authorities can seize assets at the border.
The Guardian reported on Monday that this could include asylum seekers having jewellery or other valuables taken from them to pay for costs.
Polanski accused the government of echoing Nazi Germany with these plans.
He said: “I am a child of Jewish ancestry, I am Jewish. We have seen this with Nazi Germany, we are seeing this in 2025. This government ought to hang their heads in shame.”