Green Party‘s newly elected leader Zack Polanski has said shoplifting is justified for British people living in poverty.
Mr Polanski, 42, said he too would ‘consider shoplifting’ if he also had no other option to earn money or obtain food.
The former hypnotist, who was dubbed ‘the boob whisperer’ after claiming women could increase their breast size using the power of their minds, said the UK was ‘criminalising poverty and criminalising inequality’.
The self-declared ‘eco-populist’ told the BBC: ‘A lot of people who are poor have to go around stealing because they have no other option.
‘If I had no money or any way of getting any money or food to my family then I would consider shoplifting.’
It comes as Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures last month showed shoplifting hit a record high of 530,643 offences reported to police in the year to March – 20 percent increase on the last year’s total of 444,022.
That equates to more than 10,000 thefts a week, or 1,454 a day, which is the highest level since records began in 2003.
From the year 2023 to 2024, shoplifting cost UK retailers £2.2billion in losses, which went up to £4.2billion when the price of crime prevention measures were included.
Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, 42, said he too would ‘consider shoplifting’ if he also had no other option to earn money or obtain food
The party’s new leader addressing pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a March for Palestine event on January 18, 2025
Yesterday, Mr Polanski comfortably won the leadership race for the Green Party to take over from Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.
He is a former actor and Harley Street hypnotist who, in 2013, featured in a newspaper article in which he claimed he could help women increase the size of their breasts.
He is also a former Extinction Rebellion activist who was arrested at a demonstration in 2019, and earlier this year he showed his support for now banned terrorist group Palestine Action before it was proscribed.
After an election lasting all summer he won 20,411 votes, beating a joint ticket featuring MPs Adrian Ramsey and Ellie Chowns, who won just 3,705. Turnout was just 38 per cent.
Following his party election win, the new Green Party leader said: ‘The planet is burning and so is the public’s patience.
‘People are rightly feeling let down and angry at Labour and are appalled by the rise of the far-Right.
‘People have been crushed by spiralling rents and while wages have not kept pace. We need bold action, bold leadership.
‘It’s time the super-rich paid their share. It’s time to tax extreme wealth and redistribute it to those struggling to live, to breathe, to survive.’
The election of the former Liberal Democrat as leader is likely to signal a move even further to the left by the party, which won a record four seats in the 2024 election.
In May, he announced his candidacy with an interview where he said he wanted the Green Party to drop its support for the UK staying in Nato.
