Former Scottish Green leader calls for party members to replace current heads

Former Scottish Green co-leader Robin Harper has called for an “upwelling” of party members to remove the current leadership.

Mr Harper quit the party this year in a disagreement with its stance on trans rights, accusing the party, under current leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, of having “lost the plot”.

The Scottish Greens have been steadfast in their support for the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill – the controversial legislation which would make it easier for transgender people to obtain a gender recognition certificate.

The Bill was blocked by the UK Government in January after being passed by Holyrood, with the Court of Session currently considering an appeal.

In an interview with Holyrood magazine, the party’s first ever MSP said there was a “ruling cabal” in the Scottish Greens.

“About half of the MSPs form it. They don’t listen – they don’t want to listen – to reason, to the rest of the party, where there are differences of opinion.”

He added: “There needs to be an upwelling amongst members to replace the present leadership.”

The former leader also announced he had launched the “Scottish Green women’s declaration for sex-based rights”, despite having left the party.

The declaration says sex is a “biological reality” and should not be “confused with gender”.

It adds that “women and girls are subject to discrimination and oppression on the basis of their sex”, as well as advocating for the protection of single-sex spaces in law and stressing that women and girls “have the right to discuss policies which affect them without being abused, harassed or intimidated”.

The declaration also says: “We know that globally women, as a sex, are disproportionately affected by climate change and environmental degradation and that their empowerment is essential to our work as environmentalists.”

But a spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “No such group is known to nor affiliated to the Scottish Greens.

“We support the rights of our trans siblings and stand against all forms of prejudice.”