Greens looking to ‘rewrite Scottish politics’ by overtaking Labour at Holyrood

The Greens are setting out to “rewrite Scottish politics” by coming in ahead of Labour in next May’s Holyrood elections.

Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer said that with “record polling” his party was “closer than ever to overtaking Labour”.

Hitting out at the Labour Government at Westminster over welfare reforms and the scrapping of winter fuel payments for pensioners – a policy which the Government has now U-turned on –  Mr Greer said it was “no surprise” voters are ditching Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

Speaking ahead of the Greens’ conference in Edinburgh on Saturday, Mr Greer said: “The momentum is with the Greens.

“Labour’s polling is going down, the Greens’ polling is going up, and it is because we are delivering  policies that are making a big impact in people’s lives and we are setting out a vision of what more we can do.”

He added: “It is no huge surprise to us that many people who voted Labour last year to get rid of the Tories are telling us now that they intend to vote Green or indeed are joining our party, because they want something that is fundamentally different, they want to transform our society into one that is much fairer, much greener and much kinder.

“That’s not the kind of politics Labour represents. But that hopeful vision is beginning to catch on with a lot of people.”

He continued: “The Scottish Greens are laying down a marker today. We believe we can rewrite Scottish politics by coming ahead of Labour next year.

“We are at Labour’s heels across the country, because we are actually offering people hope. We know this country can be fairer and greener, and we know how to make that a reality.”

Mr Greer said the Greens – who currently have seven MSPs at Holyrood – were targeting more than double that number in next May’s Scottish election.

Speaking to the PA news agency, he said: “We’ve got a top team of 15 candidates – we’re really excited about the prospect of getting everybody on that team elected to Parliament.”

His comments came as fellow co-leader Gillian Mackay said the Greens could go back into government with the SNP again – but stressed any deal “would have to be the right one for us” and that trust would have to be “rebuilt” between the two parties after former first minister Humza Yousaf ended their previous powersharing agreement.

“We would need to look at any deal on its merits,” Ms Mackay stated.

Setting out her party’s red lines, she added: “We would have to have a deal that prioritised LGBT rights, prioritised the planet, prioritised making sure people have a good standard of living.”

Greens had a “lot of hurt feelings” after the Bute House agreement came to an end.

But she said the party would “need to see what John (Swinney) does” after the election.

“The ball is certainly in his court,” she added.

However, she stressed she wants “every person in Scotland to be represented by a Green MSP” after May’s election, with Ms Mackay adding that in some regions the party will be looking to get more than one MSP returned.

She stated: “We’ve shown what we can do with seven MSPs, and what we could achieve with more than potentially even double that would be massive not just for the party, but for Scotland.”