Khan addresses Polanski in Urdu at London assembly, mocking Green leader’s byelection video – as it happened

Zack Polanski , the Green leader who is standing as his party’s candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, has recorded a short campaign video in Urdu . Katie Lam , the shadow communities secretary, has described this as “poisonous” and said the Tories would ban candidates from campaigning in foreign languages. Even Jonathan Reynolds , the business secretary, has said the video made him feel “uncomfortable”.

Polanski is a member of the London assembly and today Sadiq Khan , the Labour mayor, was appearing before the assembly to take questions. As Polanski asked him a question about data centres, Khan, whose parents came to the UK from Pakistan, mocked him by replying in Urdu. Kumail Jaffer , a local democracy reporter, has the video here .

When Polanski was called during the question time session, Khan initially replied to the question submitted in advance in English. But when Polansk i asked his first follow-up question, Khan gave the first few sentences of his reply in Urdu. Polanski appeared not to understand. As he switched into English, Khan apologised to Urdu speakers for the “Russian accent” he had when speaking Urdu. Polanski did not seem amused, and complained that Khan was taking up time that he wanted to devote to the climate crisis.

Polanski asked for an assurance that Khan would block data centres in London if they would be a threat to clean water and energy supplies. Khan said they would only be approved if they were “clean and sustainable”.

While Khan was mocking Polanski for campaigning in a language he does not speak, others have argued that the video was a bit pointless anway. These are from the Economist’s political data expert Owen Winter.

double quotation mark disagreeing with Urdu election material is silly. the more interesting question is why Polanski is campaigning in Urdu in a constituency with hardly any Urdu speakers

double quotation mark you get the feeling that they thought “hey this worked in Gorton and Denton. Holborn and St Pancras has Muslims too” 2/3

double quotation mark Interesting on proficiency. Of the 139 people who speak Urdu as their main language, 114 can speak English well or very well, according to the census. There are many more Bengali speakers who say they cannot speak English well (1,391) 3/3

UDPDATE: Sadiq Khan ’s office later offered a translation of what he said to Zack Polanski in Urdu. He said:

double quotation mark Peace be upon you. I was worried that you would ask the question in Urdu, but you asked your question in English.

I’ll be spending time in Holborn and St Pancras this week and I’m going to be there. Maybe we will meet there.