𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Zack Polanski has been blocked from donating to his own party after it was judged to be unlawful in a first for UK politics, according to reports. Mr Polanski made a donation of £1,539.45 to the Green Party last September, three weeks after he was elected as leader.

But UK electoral law states that donations are only lawful if made by people on the electoral register. Mr Polanski’s spokesperson said he was not on the register at the time “because of personal security concerns”, the Financial Times reports.

They added: “When the issue was brought to the national party’s attention, the donation was returned.” The Electoral Commission, which can impose civil sanctions for unlawful donations and hold the party and its treasurer liable for criminal offences, said it was “currently considering” the matter and “cannot comment further at this time”.

He was cleared of the “mistake” this month and explained in a witness statement that he believed the tax was being managed through the mooring fees he regularly paid for the boat.

The post was condemned by other politicians and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.

Mr Polanski apologised for “sharing a tweet in haste”, adding: “Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so.”

His approval ratings fell 14 points in the week following the comments, putting him behind Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, according to pollster More in Common.

Mr Polanski declared the results “historic” and evidence that “two party politics is not just dying, it is dead and it is buried”.