Zack Polanski thinks he has found out why Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf couldn’t directly respond to his Russian bribery arguments on Question Time.
Reform head of policy Yusuf and Green leader Polanski were on the panel for Thursday’s programme from Shrewsbury, alongside Labour MP James Murray, Tory MP Nigel Huddleston and Telegraph columnist Annabel Dunham.
The Green Party leader made a damning point on the flagship BBC show, where he confronted Yusuf over his party’s former leader in Wales who was convicted of taking pro-Russian bribes.
Nathan Gill, who led Reform UK in Wales in 2021, last month admitted taking bribes to make statements in favour of Vladimir Putin’s Russia while he was a member of the European parliament.
His activities were said to include making pro-Russian statements about events in Ukraine in the European parliament and in opinion pieces to news outlets.
Now, writing in Metro.co.uk, Polanski thinks he has an answer as to why Zia Yusuf couldn’t directly answer.
He wrote: “During the programme I tried as much as possible to just give my honest answers. Not spin, not rehearsed soundbites, but genuine answers about how we fix this country. It struck me how the panel was so separate from the audience.
“When I talked about the need to tax the super-rich I wanted to specifically spell out that I wasn’t talking about hairdressers, plumbers, or those working hard for a living – I was talking about those that make more money while asleep from their wealth than most of us could dream of making by working hard in a year.
“I also put to Reform how their former Leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, was in the pocket of Putin – admitting last month to taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia while being a Member of the European Parliament – and they had no answer. Because patriots don’t peddle for Putin.”