Greens ‘confident’ of beating Labour and Tories in May, says Greer

The Scottish Greens are “confident” they are on track to beat Labour and the Conservatives in the Holyrood election in May, the party’s co-leader has said.

Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland on Friday, Ross Greer was asked why the Scottish party has not seen huge progress similar to the UK Greens under Zack Polanski.

Mr Greer said: “The last Ipsos poll had the Greens and Reform tied on 17% and Labour on 18%, so that’s a statistical tie between all three of us and in fact, the Scottish Greens are confident we are on track to beat both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives in May.

“In the next 118 days, we are confident that we are going to make substantial gains for the Greens and we are going to overtake those two establishment parties.”

He said Reform UK, which has seen a significant rise in popularity in Scotland, is a “concern”.

He added: “People across the country are really angry right now, and they’re right to be angry.

“It’s far too expensive, energy bills have gone up, the cost of the weekly shop has gone up, rent has gone up. Reform, a party led by the multimillionaires causing these problems isn’t going to do it.”

Mr Greer was asked who he would be willing to work with if his party has to share power. He said he could not see a situation where the Greens could work with Labour.

He added: “We’ve seen what a Labour Government looks like down south. The first thing they did when they came in was betray their promise to the WASPI women who deserved compensation, they attack pensioners with a cut to the winter fuel payment, they attack disabled people with attempts to cut their benefits. But most importantly, the Labour Party has just armed and supported Israel as it inflicted a genocide on the Palestinian people.”

However he said he could “see a situation” where it would be possible for the Greens to co-operate with the SNP again “as long as the agreement allows us to deliver Green policies that help people save money and tackle the climate emergency”.

A Labour spokesperson said: “Scottish Labour has been clear that there will be no coalitions or deals, but we are always willing to work on a cross-party basis in Scotland’s interest.

“Ross Greer’s dishonest and desperate attacks are utter student politics and ignore the serious challenges facing Scotland under the SNP.

“The height of Ross Greer and the Scottish Greens’ ambitions might be the SNP’s support act, but Scottish Labour is working to deliver a change in government and a fairer, greener and more prosperous Scotland.”

Reform UK and the UK Government have been approached for comment.