The
Scottish Green Party is the Green party of
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It currently has two MSPs in the devolved
Scottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood" , is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
,
Robin HarperRobin Harper is a Scottish politician. He was co-convener of the Scottish Green Party until 2008, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothians...
, representing the Lothians, and
Patrick HarviePatrick Harvie is one of the two co-convenors of the Scottish Green Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow region...
, for Glasgow.
The Scottish party is fully independent, and works closely with the other green parties of Britain and Ireland: the
Green Party of England and WalesThe Green Party of England and Wales is the principal Green political party in England and Wales which includes among its regional divisions the semi-autonomous Wales Green Party. The party is unrepresented in the House of Commons, but did have a life peer in the House of Lords until his death...
, the
Green Party in Northern IrelandThe Green Party in Northern Ireland is a political party in Northern Ireland, based on the principles of Green politics. It has one Assembly Member elected to the Stormont Assembly and three councillors. It works in co-operation with Green parties across Europe...
and the
Green Party of IrelandThe Green Party is a green political party in Ireland. It was founded as the Ecology Party of Ireland in 1981 by Dublin teacher Christopher Fettes...
. It is a full member of the
European Green PartyThe European Green Party is the Green political party at European level. As such it is a federation of green parties in Europe.-History:...
.
The party currently has 9 councillors: 1 in Aberdeenshire, 3 in Edinburgh and 5 in Glasgow.
The
Scottish Green Party is the Green party of
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It currently has two MSPs in the devolved
Scottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood" , is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
,
Robin HarperRobin Harper is a Scottish politician. He was co-convener of the Scottish Green Party until 2008, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothians...
, representing the Lothians, and
Patrick HarviePatrick Harvie is one of the two co-convenors of the Scottish Green Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow region...
, for Glasgow.
The Scottish party is fully independent, and works closely with the other green parties of Britain and Ireland: the
Green Party of England and WalesThe Green Party of England and Wales is the principal Green political party in England and Wales which includes among its regional divisions the semi-autonomous Wales Green Party. The party is unrepresented in the House of Commons, but did have a life peer in the House of Lords until his death...
, the
Green Party in Northern IrelandThe Green Party in Northern Ireland is a political party in Northern Ireland, based on the principles of Green politics. It has one Assembly Member elected to the Stormont Assembly and three councillors. It works in co-operation with Green parties across Europe...
and the
Green Party of IrelandThe Green Party is a green political party in Ireland. It was founded as the Ecology Party of Ireland in 1981 by Dublin teacher Christopher Fettes...
. It is a full member of the
European Green PartyThe European Green Party is the Green political party at European level. As such it is a federation of green parties in Europe.-History:...
.
The party currently has 9 councillors: 1 in Aberdeenshire, 3 in Edinburgh and 5 in Glasgow. Eight were elected in 2007 after the Greens stood substantial numbers of council candidates for the first time, and the Aberdeenshire councillor defected from the
Scottish Liberal DemocratsThe Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal structure of the Liberal Democrats; the others being the English and the Welsh parties...
in 2009.
At the
2005 Westminster electionThe United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect members to the House of Commons.The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a reduced overall majority of 66 and they failed to gain any new seats...
, the party contested 19 seats and gained 25,760 votes. Its top result was 7.7% of the vote in
Glasgow NorthGlasgow North is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It was first used in the general election of 2005.-Boundaries:...
, a major breakthrough in the West of Scotland. In the
European ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union , it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
election of 2004, it missed out on a seat with 6.8% of the vote. However, the Party lost 5 of their 7 seats in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election.
According to accounts filed with the Electoral Commission for the year ending December 31, 2008, the party had an income of about £76,597 that year, and expenditure of around £57,000 and a membership of 998.
History
The Scottish Green Party was a constituent part of the former
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
Green PartyThe Green Party was a Green political party in the United Kingdom. It has been succeeded by three political parties:* the Green Party of England and Wales* the Green Party in Northern Ireland* the Scottish Green Party...
until 1990, when the Scottish Green Party became a separate entity. The separation was entirely amicable, as part of the green commitment to
decentralisationDécentralisation is a french word for both a policy concept in French politics from 1968-1990, and a term employed to describe the results of observations of the evolution of spatial economic and institutional organization of France....
: the Scottish Green Party supports a referendum on
Scottish independenceScottish independence is a political ambition of a number of political parties, pressure groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and regain its status as an independent country....
.
The Scottish Green Party benefits from the fact that the British government created a
Scottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood" , is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
, which is elected using the additional member system of
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
. In the first election to this Parliament, in 1999, the Scottish Green Party got one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) elected by proportional representation,
Robin HarperRobin Harper is a Scottish politician. He was co-convener of the Scottish Green Party until 2008, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothians...
, the UK's first Green Parliamentarian. On 1 May 2003 the Scottish Greens added six new MSPs to their previous total.
In the 2007 elections, the Party lost five seats in
HolyroodHolyrood is an anglicisation of the Scots haly ruid .The name Holyrood may refer to:-Scotland:* Holyrood, a metonym for the Scottish Parliament, or the Scottish Parliament Building * Holyrood, Edinburgh, one of the areas of Edinburgh , named after Holyrood...
. However in the council elections, taking place under the new
Single Transferable VoteThe Single transferable vote is a system of preferential voting designed to minimize "wasted" votes and provide proportional representation while ensuring that votes are explicitly expressed for individual candidates rather than for party lists...
voting system, they gained three Councillors on the City of Edinburgh Council and five Councillors on Glasgow City Council.
On 11 May 2007, the Greens signed an agreement with the
Scottish National PartyThe Scottish National Party is a centre-left political party which campaigns for Scottish independence. In the last few decades, the SNP has normally polled the second highest number of votes for a political party in Scotland. However, the 2009 European Election saw the party top the poll with...
, which meant that the Greens voted for Alex Salmond as First Minister and supported his initial Ministerial appointments. In return, the Nationalists backed a climate change bill as an early measure and promised to legislate against ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Firth of Forth. The SNP also agreed to nominate Patrick Harvie, one of the Green MSPs, to convene one of the Holyrood committees: Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change.
On 28 January 2009, the two Green MSPs were instrumental in the defeat of the Government's budget, though a slightly amended version was passed easily the following week.
Policy
The Scottish Green Party is committed to forming a
sustainable societySustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time...
. Their policies are guided by these four interconnected principles:
- Ecology: Our environment is the basis upon which every society is formed. Whenever we damage our environment, we damage ourselves. Respect for our environment is therefore essential.
- Equality: A society that is not socially and economically just cannot be sustainable. Only when released from immediate poverty can individuals be expected to take responsibility for wider issues. Our society must be founded on cooperation and respect. We campaign hard against discrimination on grounds of gender, race, sexuality, disability, age or religion.
- Radical Democracy: Politics is too often conducted in a polarised, confrontational atmosphere and in a situation remote from those that it affects. We must develop decentralised, participative systems that encourage individuals to control the decisions that affect their own lives.
- Peace and Non-Violence: Violence at all levels of human interaction must be rejected and succeeded by relations characterised by flexibility, respect and fairness.
These principles taken together give the Scottish Green Party a holistic view that is in common with all Green Parties around the world.
Scottish Green Party MSPs
All of the Scottish Green Party's Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have been elected under the list or "top-up" system of representation in the Parliament.
Current MSPs
- Robin Harper
Robin Harper is a Scottish politician. He was co-convener of the Scottish Green Party until 2008, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothians...
is MSP for the Lothians.
- Patrick Harvie
Patrick Harvie is one of the two co-convenors of the Scottish Green Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow region...
is MSP for Glasgow and was elected male Co-Convenor of the Party in November 2008.
Previous MSPs
- Shiona Baird
Shiona Baird, born September 14, 1946, in Hereford, England is a Green politician and former Member of the Scottish Parliament and co-convener of the Scottish Green Party, of which she is currently vice-convenor....
for North East Scotland.
- Chris Ballance
Chris Ballance is a Scottish Green Party politician and former Member of the Scottish Parliament for South of Scotland. He held a seat on the Parliament's Enterprise and Culture Committee and was the Green's Parliamentary business manager and speaker on nuclear issues, culture and peace.Born in...
for the South of Scotland.
- Mark Ballard
Mark Ballard was a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothians region between 2003 and 2007, representing the Scottish Green Party and was Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh between 2006 and 2009...
for the Lothians.
- Mark Ruskell
Mark Ruskell, born May 14, 1972 in Wisbech, England is a former Green Member of the Scottish Parliament. Elected to represent Mid Scotland and Fife in 2003, he sat on the Scottish Parliament Environment and Rural Development Committee and served as its deputy convenor.Mark lost his seat in Mid...
for Mid Scotland and Fife.
- Eleanor Scott
Eleanor Scott is a Scottish politician. She is a former Scottish Green Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Highlands and Islands. Elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2003, her partner is fellow MSP Rob Gibson, who is a Scottish National Party representative . She lost her seat in...
for the Highlands and Islands. Elected Co-Convenor of the Party in November 2008.
City of Edinburgh Council
- Steve Burgess (Southside/Newington Ward)
- Maggie Chapman (Leith Walk Ward)
- Alison Johnstone (Meadows/Morningside Ward)
Glasgow City Council
- Danny Alderslowe (Southside Central Ward)
- Nina Baker (Anderston/City Ward)
- Stuart Clay (Partick West Ward)
- Martha Wardrop (Hillhead Ward)
- Kieran Wild (Canal Ward)
Previous Councillors
Prior to the 2007 elections, the Party had only ever elected one councillor at local level: in May 1990, Roger (aka Rory) Winter, representing the Highland Green Party (
Uainich na Gàidhealtachd), was elected in
NairnNairn is a town and former burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness...
as Scotland's first Green regional councillor to the then Highland Regional Council. Cllr Winter broke away from the Greens in 1991 and continued his four-year term as an Independent Green Highlander.
See also
External links