Green Party Leader Zack Polanski Calls for Expelling US Forces from UK Bases

The UK should consider expelling the US from British military bases, the leader of the Green party has said, as he advocated leaving Nato and spending less on American weapons as part of a wider dismantling of the two countries’ defence alliance. Zack Polanski told the Guardian he believed Britain should wean itself off its reliance on American military cooperation, though would not say whether he supported spending more money to replace that capability. His comments come as the prime minister, Keir Starmer, attempts to placate the US president and dissuade him from his threats to invade Greenland and to impose tariffs on European countries who oppose him. Polanski told the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast: “I think it’s pretty worrying that we’ve allowed ourselves to become so reliant on American interests, and that a lot of this depends on if Donald Trump is in a good mood or not.” He added: “We should be reviewing US bases on UK soil, and actually looking at a genuine strategic defence review.” Asked whether he viewed the US as a bigger threat than Russia, he said: “I do think Donald Trump is dangerous. I think Vladimir Putin has clearly done more. “But then we can talk about Donald Trump’s complicity or active enabling of [Benjamin] Netanyahu and the genocide in Gaza. None of these things are OK and I think it’s not about comparing things.” The Green party leader said he supported the UK leaving Nato, even though that is not official Green party policy. “Donald Trump has so much domination within Nato that I don’t believe it’s possible to reform Nato from within,” he said. He said he wanted to see the UK give up its nuclear weapons, saying he would try to persuade other nuclear-armed countries – including Russia – to do the same. “If we’re not willing to have conversations about peace and diplomacy – that part of those conversations look at everyone denuclearising – then what are we doing here?” he said. Polanski was speaking against the backdrop of escalating transatlantic tensions, with European leaders considering deploying €93bn worth of tariffs on American goods if Trump follows through on his threat to impose tariffs on eight European countries. Trump threatened the economic sanctions after becoming exasperated by the resistance of the eight countries – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland – to his demands to buy Greenland. Speaking from Downing Street on Monday morning, Starmer warned against the threat of a trade war, but said he did not believe the US president would follow through on his threat to invade the island, which is part of Danish territory. “I think that this can be resolved, and should be resolved, through calm discussion,” the prime minister said. Polanski accused Starmer of “putting his eggs in the basket of being on the good side of Donald Trump”, adding that he wanted the UK to wean itself off US arms imports even if that put the wider £331bn trading relationship at risk. “We need to make sure that the people we are reliant on are reliable allies, and Donald Trump is certainly not that,” he said. He also defended his proposal to levy a wealth tax of 1% on assets of £10m or more, and 10% on those of £1bn or more, which he says would raise between £15bn and £25bn a year. He called concerns about rich people leaving the country, thereby rendering the tax ineffective, “absurd”, saying he would back such a tax even if it did not raise much money. Asked about concerns that a wealth tax would be widely avoided, he said: “I think it’s absurd to worry about it … It’s not so much about raising money, it’s about tackling inequality. It will raise revenue, obviously, if you tax people. But the point is, if you allow people to hoard assets, that removes other assets for other people.”