Greens launch local election campaign with focus on housing

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has attacked the government's record on building affordable and social housing at his party's local election campaign launch. Speaking in Lewisham, south-east London, where the Greens are hoping to make gains, Polanski also called for rent controls to be introduced in the capital. The party's recent Westminster win in the Gorton and Denton by-election has given Green campaigners a boost, with Labour pushed into third place behind Reform UK. Polanski told supporters local elections across England would mirror this, in a fight between Greens and Reform, which he described as a "straight up battle between hope and hate". The UK's two major parties, Labour and the Conservatives, are expected to lose ground to smaller parties in the local elections across England on 7 May. Gorton and Denton MP Hannah Spencer's February by-election victory means the Greens now have five MPs - their highest ever number in Parliament. The party is looking to make record gains in English councils, including in London boroughs, where they will be targeting Labour's dominance in town halls across Hackney, Lambeth, Islington and Southwark. In his speech Polanksi accused Labour