‘I really want to stop the boats’: Zack Polanski on asylum after visiting camps in Calais (EXCLUSIVE)

Green Party leader Zack Polanski gives his take on people travelling from overseas to seek asylum in the UK after witnessing the “grim” conditions of those living in Calais, France.

In his Attitude cover interview, as Polanski fights for his spot in Number 10, he speaks on issues from LGBTQ+ rights to asylum seekers.

Polanski visited the camps in Calais, a town in northern France, in December 2025. Thousands of Migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers gather there in hopes of crossing the English Channel to seek refuge in Dover.

“The majority of the small boats are being driven by children” – Zack Polanski on asylum conditions in Calais, France

“People are just kept in this purgatory where they’re being treated abominably, and then when they do get on the small boat, the majority of the small boats are being driven by children who are being offered free passage,” he explains.

Recalling his trip, he continues: “Their families want them to get out of Calais because it’s so awful that they’re more willing to put them on the boat, where there’s a good chance they might die in freezing cold water, than have them remain in the unimaginable circumstances they are. That’s how grim Calais is.”

On asylum seekers illegally travelling the Channel to reach the UK, fleeing war-torn countries, human rights violations, or other dangers, Polanski wants to reduce the risks involved.

“Let’s make sure that we have a processing centre in Calais” – Polanski on safety for people seeking asylum in the UK

“I really want to stop the boats,” he says. “Let’s make sure that we have a processing centre in Calais.” Highlighting people could formally apply for UK asylum while still in Calais, rather than needing to reach British soil.

In October 2016, French authorities established a temporary processing centre in a hangar in Calais to manage the evacuation of the “Jungle” camp, formally known as Camp de la Lande, which was overpopulated with 6,000 to 10,000 people living in tents, seeking asylum.

“That’s not some kind of dream,” Polanski continues. “We had serious conversations about opening one up until 2016, when the Conservative Party deliberately shut that down.”

“They wanted to create a backlog of people seeking asylum” – Polanski on the Conservative Party asylum laws in 2016

He explains: “They wanted to create a backlog of people seeking asylum so they could take pictures and say that the country is being invaded, as opposed to dealing with the actual problems, the problems of austerity.”

“It was a very useful distraction and division technique,” says Polanski.

According to Gov.uk, asylum applicants must apply upon arrival in the UK or, if already in the country, at the Asylum Intake Unit.

After undergoing a series of interviews, screenings and security checks, individuals will only be granted asylum if they can demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution based on EDI, making it unsafe for them to return home.

Read the full interview in the Attitude March/April 2026 issue, available on digital platforms and print from Friday 13th February 2026.