The Scottish Greens are poised to leverage their recent electoral successes to push the Scottish National Party (SNP) further to the left and oppose any new oil fields. The party, which previously held a partnership agreement with the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon, aims to increase its influence in the next parliamentary term.
Electoral Victories
In a significant shift, the Greens managed to secure Nicola Sturgeon's former seat of Glasgow Southside and defeat Culture Secretary Angus Robertson in Edinburgh Central. Holly Bruce, the newly elected MSP for Glasgow Southside, a self-declared Corbynista who previously joined Labour to support Jeremy Corbyn's leadership bid, stated that the Greens will 'push the SNP to be better at their politics'.
Coalition Considerations
Bruce noted that any potential coalition with the SNP would require a vote by Green members. 'It really does depend on a number of things. Obviously the Bute House Agreement was cancelled and disrupted but we would have to build up trust with the SNP again to even get there,' she said. 'We want to be elected on the manifesto that we’ve stood on, which is to get free bus travel, free childcare from the age of six months and to get climate action.'
Independence Referendum
Bruce also insisted the Greens will push for another independence referendum, despite SNP leader John Swinney failing to secure a majority, which he claims is a mandate for another vote. 'A vote for the Scottish Greens is a vote for independence, and we believe if there is a pro-independence majority elected to the Scottish parliament that is a mandate for another referendum,' she asserted.
Previous Political Allegiances
Reflecting on her previous support for Jeremy Corbyn, Bruce said: 'I was attracted to Corbyn because of a lot of his socialist policies, I wanted to vote for him as leader of Labour at that time, but that was back in 2015, before Brexit, before we saw extremes emanate from the Tories, before Trump’s America, so things have changed.' She added that Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader in England and Wales, is also speaking to frustrated voters seeking change.
Vote Share Details
In Glasgow Southside, Bruce secured 36.5% of the vote, compared to the SNP's Kaukab Stewart with 28.4%, Labour's Rashid Hussain with 19%, and Reform's Gordon Millar with 7.8%. When asked about a potential backlash against Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP, Bruce responded: 'I wouldn’t say it’s a backlash, I’d say Nicola Sturgeon served the community well for over 15 years but now they want a Green and they voted me today.'
Future Cooperation with SNP
Lorna Slater, former Scottish Government minister who defeated Angus Robertson in Edinburgh Central, commented on the prospect of working with the SNP again: 'They still haven’t published that energy strategy with the presumption against new oil and gas in it. So there would have to be some realignment there before we could consider something of that nature.'
