Patrick Harvie's increasingly scary Scottish Green party should terrify us all – Scotsman comment

Scottish Green party co-leader Patrick Harvie should worry that their presence in the Scottish Government ‘scares some people’

After ex-Scottish Green Robin Harper renewed his criticism of his former party over the weekend, co-leader Patrick Harvie claimed that their presence in government “scares some people” – such as “former Greens” who “never really embraced the social or economic dimension of Green politics and wanted us to be little more than an environmental pressure group”.

Rather than trying to refute Harper’s charges that the party had become “careless and cocky” and was “not listening to people and bringing them along”, Harvie seemed more interested in proving them. Revelling in the fear you instill in those you disagree with is a particularly antagonistic way to do politics.

He could seek to win hearts and minds by civilly engaging in reasoned debate about important, complicated issues. Instead, Harvie chose to paint Harper as not a true Green, a scandalous suggestion that will appal many of his party’s own supporters. He didn’t say “traitor”, all too common in the independence debate, but he might as well have.

Politicians should be worried about scaring people. And voters should be scared of politicians who aren’t.