Scottish Greens ‘could hold balance of power’ in council elections – co-leaders

The Scottish Greens have not ruled out coalitions with other political parties in upcoming council elections.

Speaking at the party’s manifesto launch in East Kilbride on Tuesday, co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater said the “collaborations” could be arranged with any party – excluding the Scottish Conservatives.

The party’s manifesto sets out priorities to tackle the climate crisis through local policies – under the banner of ‘think global, act local’.

Bus services would be brought into public hands in the plans and councillors, if elected, would ensure local authorities had a zero-waste plan and improved bin services.

Helping families through the cost-of-living crisis also features in the manifesto by proposing a statutory guidance to cap school uniform costs and automatically cancel all outstanding school meal debts owed by families.

And a key commitment promises to push for a wage rise for social care workers – putting them in line with NHS staff at £15 per hour.

In 2017, the party returned its highest number of elected councillors and currently holds 17 seats in local authorities.

Building on this at the May 5 election will be key to its success, according to Ms Slater, as the party put forward candidates in two-thirds of Scotland’s council wards.

That could see local Greens councillors enter into administration with other political parties to ensure their policies are considered.

Speaking at a press conference following the manifesto launch, Ms Slater ruled out any link up with the Tories, however said the party was “absolutely interested” in holding the balance of power with either Labour, SNP or the Liberal Democrats.

She said: “The Scottish Greens believe in consensus, negotiations and grown-up politics.

“We’ve shown Holyrood that working with other parties can lead to good government and that kind of grown-up politics that we all want to see.

“Greens are absolutely interested in working with other parties across Scotland.

“We wouldn’t work with the Scottish Tories but other parties have common interests to make sure that we can deliver all that we want to deliver in terms of active travel, nature restoration, better recycling, all those things that matter.

“It of course will depend on the exact electoral amounts in each council but there’s possibility that the Greens can hold the balance of power just about anywhere.”

And Mr Harvie said disagreements on constitutional issues would not stop collaborations with Labour or the Liberal Democrats at local level.

He said: “We wouldn’t dictate to any local group of Green councillors what the right solution is for their area.

“Something that is polarising and divisive at a national level doesn’t stop you working together at local level.

“Politics has way too much of that toxic, hostile, polarised division when actually communities work best when folk try to find a common ground.”

The party’s manifesto launch is centred around tackling global issues with local action, and a lot of important decision-making powers to tackle the climate emergency occur at a council level, according to Ms Slater.