'We're zooming up the fast-track' – Greens

The co-deputy leader of the Greens, Rachel Millward, says there is a "new energy" to the party

The Green Party believe they've got momentum.

They've certainly been gathering support in the South East in recent years, picking up council seats in former Conservative strongholds across Kent, Sussex and Surrey.

But they're under new leadership - Zack Polanski, a self-styled "eco-populist".

And at their autumn conference in Bournemouth, their members tell me it feels like they've been turbo-charged.

"It feels like there's a new energy," their new co-deputy leader, Rachel Millward, tells me.

"Like when something is dynamically changing, you can zoom up the fast track… I think it's because we've got better comms, we've got somebody out front who can take on Farage… it is the moment for the Greens to step forward."

But that "somebody up front", Zack Polanski, is seen by many as more radical and more left-wing than his most recent predecessors.

And his opponents have warned his policies and his style won't appeal to the more moderate voters the party has recently attracted in places like Wealden, Reigate and Maidstone.

Green Party members and activists say they've got "better comms" with their new leader, Zack Polanski

Millward, who is also the deputy co-leader of Wealden District Council, rejects this.

"I actually think the key issues to voters in the South East are ultimately about equality," she said.

Wealden is one such former Conservative stronghold that is now run by a coalition of the Greens and the Lib Dems.

"When we do knock on doors it's like, why are these luxury unaffordable housing estates being built all over these green fields?

"It's the fact that people's children can't get on the housing ladder, can't afford their rent… Then things like the sewage and the rivers [are] absolutely massive."

Legalising all drugs

Polanski himself rejects the radical label.

Sitting down before his party conference, he says his policies for "redistributing excess wealth… can appeal to almost everybody".

But he does also talk about legalising all drugs and the UK ultimately leaving Nato – not necessarily ideas you'd associate with the middle classes of the rural South East.

"I think you can take people on a journey with that," said Millward.

"Once you have data and evidence, which conservatives with a small c really love… it's all about communicating, telling that story, taking people on that journey."

But Green administrations haven't always ended well in the region.

Residents twice kicked out the Green Party in Brighton and Hove – with some blaming a dispute between the council and the union that represents refuse workers, that left the streets filled with rubbish for days on end.

They also faced challenges managing pavements over-run with weeds, after the previous Labour administration had stopped using weed-killer.

So do voters like the idea of environmental policies until they start to inconvenience their lives?

The Brighton Pavilion Green MP, Sian Berry, rejects this idea.

"It was a particularly wet spring," she says.

"Every single type of policy can face a little crisis brought about by the weather, or a supply crisis... these are things that can happen and it is political opportunism to blame that on the broad sweep of climate policies, with which the public massively agree."

At a time that some other parties are sounding increasingly sceptical about the need for net zero, Berry says environmental policies are more important now than ever.

"I think the public is still - and has been for a long time - very keen to see climate action," she said.

"They can see the benefits of having a warmer, less damp home. But also the benefits to jobs if the government invest in that kind of thing."

Brighton Pavilion MP, Sian Berry, says the public are still keen to see climate action

Sian Berry is the party's only MP in our region, although they did pick up their target three extra seats elsewhere in the country at the general election last year.

Now Polanski has set his sights even higher – aiming for 30-40 seats across the UK at the next election in four years' time.

He says the party's targets start in the seats around Brighton, but isn't ruling out other seats too.

Demographically, Brighton, which tends to lean left, seems logical.

But what about Kent, which saw Reform UK win a sweeping majority at the County Council elections in May?

Stuart Jeffrey, the Green leader of Maidstone Borough Council and a Kent County Councillor, thinks it's possible.

"Oh God yeah, absolutely," he tells me.

"We've got at least two seats that are ripe to win. Canterbury in particular... we're growing rapidly. Tonbridge I believe is winnable.

"You know, I'm in charge of Maidstone. Nobody in their right mind would have put money on me being leader of Maidstone Borough Council five years ago."

Millward – who has been selected as the Green candidate for the Sussex mayoral elections - is optimistic too.

"I think we have this possibility, actually, of winning over some Reform voters. because a lot of those people are voting Reform because they're angry and upset and they don't feel themselves listened to or represented," she said.

"We're wanting to be really bold and say, 'It's not okay, is it? Let's tax assets, lets tax the very rich, let's make a difference'."

But with five main parties now vying for votes, it's a big ambition in a crowded field.