The campaign against new data centers in the UK has found a prominent new voice, as Green Party leader Zack Polanski pressed the government on Friday to halt approvals for new facilities in England.

Polanski criticized what he described as the Labour Party's “negligible and negligent” attitude, arguing that households already enduring drought conditions should not be forced to compete with multi-million dollar facilities for scarce water and power resources.

Why the UK Green Party is fighting data centers

The Green Party has been a leading critic of the government's 2024 decision to designate data centers as critical national infrastructure, a status that carries extra state support among other benefits. The designation came as Britain courts tens of billions in AI and cloud computing investment, with demand for computing capacity surging on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Greens say they are trying to prevent a future in which these energy- and water-intensive facilities take priority over homes for water and electricity during shortages.

The UK is currently experiencing a summer drought that, according to the Green Party, has left three-quarters of the country struggling to maintain a consistent water supply.

Speaking to the BBC at the proposed site of an East London data center, Polanski said the government should “slam the brakes” on approving large facilities. He proposed instead permitting only small data centers that directly serve their immediate communities.

In remarks to LBC, Polanski said data “should serve people, not the other way around.” He accused ministers of riding “roughshod” over residents by ignoring their views in planning decisions.

Pro- and anti-data center activists cite different numbers

The debate is highly polarized, with statistics cited and interpreted differently depending on which side is arguing. The picture is further muddied in the UK because operators are not required to report their water usage.

In February, the Water Research Centre estimated that data centers account for roughly 0.2% of England's non-household water market, drawing about 1.9 billion liters of drinkable water per year.

The Greens point instead to research by the charity Global Action Plan, which concluded that a single large facility can consume up to 1.5 million liters of water per day.

Industry stakeholders counter that leisure centers, golf courses, and water leakage are far larger sources of waste than data centers.

The non-profit Foxglove laid out the environmental case in an analysis reported by the Guardian earlier in the week. The report identified proposed sites at Wapseys Wood in Buckinghamshire and Quest Park in Bedfordshire as the source of more than 4.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year once at full operating capacity, while drawing 1.3GW of power.

That estimate exceeds the 3.9 million tonnes attributed to ExxonMobil's entire UK operation in 2023, according to the thinktank Ember.

Former Green leader Caroline Lucas called the projected emissions “absolutely horrifying.” Labour MP Toby Perkins, who chairs a Commons inquiry into the sector, said the findings were a reminder that data centers could pose “a serious threat” to legally binding climate goals without proper safeguards.

Westminster digs in, and the US looms

The government has shown no sign of retreat. A senior Labour official told POLITICO that a pause “would be a disaster for jobs and national security,” warning it would drive investment abroad and leave Britain dependent on overseas computing for sensitive health and defense data.

The same official acknowledged the point was “not a blank cheque for Big Tech,” insisting developers must use clean power, manage water responsibly, and invest in host communities.

Polanski stopped short of calling for a full moratorium, and analysts note that British public opinion remains warmer toward data centers than American opinion. Neil Ross of Public First told POLITICO that UK opposition is driven mainly by local and environmental concerns, whereas anger in the US centers on household energy bills.

That anger has already produced moratoriums and pauses from New York to Texas, and a National Republican Senatorial Committee memo warned AI firms that the backlash was sinking Senator Jon Husted in Ohio, as reported by Cryptopolitan.

James Meadway of the Verdant think tank argued the Greens have found an issue that “matches the public mood” and could win them new voters. How the standoff resolves may hinge on the outcome of the Commons inquiry chaired by Perkins and on whether the government moves to require operators to report water usage, which would give the public the standardized data both sides currently lack.