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Sadiq Khan stumps Polanski by addressing him in Urdu in London assembly, mocking Green leader’s byelection video
Zack Polanski, the Green leader who is standing as his party’s candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, has recorded a short campaign video in Urdu. Katie Lam, the shadow communities secretary, has described this as “poisonous” and said the Tories would ban candidates from campaigning in foreign languages. Even Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has said the video made him feel “uncomfortable”.
Polanski is a member of the London assembly and today Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor, was appearing before the assembly to take questions. As Polanski asked him a question about data centres, Khan, whose parents came to the UK from Pakistan, mocked him by replying in Urdu. Kumail Jaffer, a local democracy reporter, has the video here.
When Polanski was called during the question time session, Khan initially replied to the question submitted in advance in English. But when Polanski asked his first follow-up question, Khan gave the first few sentences of his reply in Urdu. Polanski appeared not to understand. As he switched into English, Khan apologised to Urdu speakers for the “Russian accent” he had when speaking Urdu. Polanski did not seem amused, and complained that Khan was taking up time that he wanted to devote to the climate crisis.
Polanski asked for an assurance that Khan would block data centres in London if they would be a threat to clean water and energy supplies. Khan said they would only be approved if they were “clean and sustainable”.
While Khan was mocking Polanski for campaigning in a language he does not speak, others have argued that the video was a bit pointless anway. These are from the Economist’s political data expert Owen Winter.
disagreeing with Urdu election material is silly. the more interesting question is why Polanski is campaigning in Urdu in a constituency with hardly any Urdu speakers
you get the feeling that they thought “hey this worked in Gorton and Denton. Holborn and St Pancras has Muslims too” 2/3
Interesting on proficiency. Of the 139 people who speak Urdu as their main language, 114 can speak English well or very well, according to the census. There are many more Bengali speakers who say they cannot speak English well (1,391) 3/3
Key events
Council spending on B&B accommodation for homeless people in England rose by 22% in past year, figures show
Council spending in England on bed and breakfast accommodation for the homeless jumped 22% in 2025/26, new figures show as a charity warned of “ruinously expensive temporary fixes”. The Press Association reports:
Local authorities spent a net total of £467.5m on this kind of accommodation in the year to March, up from an inflation-adjusted £383.6m in 2024/25 – an increase of £83.8m.
Andy Burnham has made tackling homelessness – which comes in many forms including people living in temporary accommodation – one of his priority areas since becoming prime minister in the summer.
Figures published today by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) showed net spending by councils on all types of temporary accommodation for the homeless plus administration costs rose by 2% year-on-year.
Net spending – which is the difference between the total outgoings for local authorities and their income – in the year to March was £1.47bn, an increase from an inflation-adjusted £1.44bn the year before.
Spending on nightly paid, privately managed accommodation fell by a fifth to £494.3m from £622.6m, while spending on hostels, which can include refuges, was down by almost a third to £26.2m from £37.8m.
But figures for private sector accommodation, which is leased by a local authority or registered provider, and for bed and breakfasts both rose by more than a fifth.
The former went from £220.3m to £271.2m – a 23% increase.
Andy Burnham: UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050
The UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050, Andy Burnham has argued in his strongest comments yet on the issue, saying it is no longer possible for Britons to believe they are not already affected by a changing climate. Peter Walker has the story, which is based on an article that Burnham has written for the Guardian.
And here is Burnham’s article.
Sadiq Khan stumps Polanski by addressing him in Urdu in London assembly, mocking Green leader’s byelection video
Zack Polanski, the Green leader who is standing as his party’s candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, has recorded a short campaign video in Urdu. Katie Lam, the shadow communities secretary, has described this as “poisonous” and said the Tories would ban candidates from campaigning in foreign languages. Even Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has said the video made him feel “uncomfortable”.
Polanski is a member of the London assembly and today Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor, was appearing before the assembly to take questions. As Polanski asked him a question about data centres, Khan, whose parents came to the UK from Pakistan, mocked him by replying in Urdu. Kumail Jaffer, a local democracy reporter, has the video here.
When Polanski was called during the question time session, Khan initially replied to the question submitted in advance in English. But when Polanski asked his first follow-up question, Khan gave the first few sentences of his reply in Urdu. Polanski appeared not to understand. As he switched into English, Khan apologised to Urdu speakers for the “Russian accent” he had when speaking Urdu. Polanski did not seem amused, and complained that Khan was taking up time that he wanted to devote to the climate crisis.
Polanski asked for an assurance that Khan would block data centres in London if they would be a threat to clean water and energy supplies. Khan said they would only be approved if they were “clean and sustainable”.
While Khan was mocking Polanski for campaigning in a language he does not speak, others have argued that the video was a bit pointless anway. These are from the Economist’s political data expert Owen Winter.
disagreeing with Urdu election material is silly. the more interesting question is why Polanski is campaigning in Urdu in a constituency with hardly any Urdu speakers
you get the feeling that they thought “hey this worked in Gorton and Denton. Holborn and St Pancras has Muslims too” 2/3
Interesting on proficiency. Of the 139 people who speak Urdu as their main language, 114 can speak English well or very well, according to the census. There are many more Bengali speakers who say they cannot speak English well (1,391) 3/3
Griffith says having TUC figure on Bank of England’s court ‘feels 1970s’, as he implies Tories would scrap that tradition
Q: When Kemi Badenoch criticised the decision to appoint Paul Nowak from the TUC to the Bank of England’s court yesterday, was she unaware there is a tradition of TUC members being on it? Or will this be a new Conservative policy – no longer appointing union figures to the court if you are in government?
Griffith replied:
Paul Novak said some very unfortunate comments in the past about, for example, the City of London, one of the financial powerhouses that helps our economy grow.
There is a tradition of putting union bosses on the Bank of England board.
If I’m honest, that feels pretty 1970s. It wouldn’t be the first place that I would go to bolster the reputation for financial discipline of an important financial institution.
Q: Would you support means testing the personal independence payment (Pip)?
Griffith said the Tories want to reform Pip. He did not address means testing, but he said they would bring back face-to-face assessments for it.
Q: Would you cut the national minimum wage to get more people into work? And will you match the Reform UK pledge to raise the income tax allowance to £15,000?
Griffith said employers told him their biggest concern at the moment was the extra cost of employment legislation. He said it could take three years for an unfair dismissal claim to be heard. Tackling this problem was the “number one” issue for him, he said.
Q: You have criticises Labour’s decision to put up employer national insurance. Will you commit to reversing that?
Griffith said he has committed to reversing “every line of the job-destroying legislation that has chilled the hearts of every employer in the country” (ie, the Employment Rights Act). But he said he could not commit to reversing the NICs tax rise, much as he would like to, because every tax cut had to be costed.
Griffith claims he has ‘more private sector experience reportedly than entire Labour cabinet’
Q: Polling suggests that voters now trust Labour, under Andy Burnham, more on the economy, than the Conservatives. How will you win back trust?
Griffith said that he was “a finance director for more than a decade” and he said that he and he said that he had “more private sector experience reportedly than the entire Labour cabinet”.
Q: [From the BBC’s Nomia Iqbal] You are asking the government to rule out tax rises in the budget. Could you rule out tax rises under a Conservative government?
Griffith said the last two budgets saw unprecedented tax rises. That is why further tax rises should be ruled out, he said.
He did not rule out a future Tory government raising taxes.
Q: [From Olivia Utley at GB News] Will you rule out raising other taxes to fund cutting inheritance tax?
Griffith replied:
We’ve set out very clearly a number of taxes that we will cut. We’ve talked about the family business death tax. We will cut that in our first budget.
We’ve talked about the family farm death tax, stamp duty on all primary residences. And we want to help our high streets so we will reduce business rates for many small independent outlets.
Every single tax cut that we propose … will have to be paid for.
Q: [From Rob Powell at Sky News] Why should young voters back the Tories when they want to prioritise the pension triple lock, even though pensioner poverty is lower than poverty among working-age adults, and cutting inheritance tax, which benefits wealthier families?
Griffith says he wants to cut taxes for everyone. He says the Tories want to cut stamp duty, which would help first time buyers. He goes on:
That is the big difference in British politics today – between those who want you to keep more of what you earn and want to cut your taxes, and those who refuse to reform welfare and will only ever put taxes up.
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