Scott Macnab: Greens need a policy rethink if they are to ripen into a political force

The Green movement found its feet in Scotland with the election of its first UK parliamentarian 12 years ago when Robin Harper swept into Holyrood draped in his customary rainbow-style scarf.

When seven Greens were elected in the “rainbow parliament” of 2003, environmental campaigners believed they were on the cusp of a major political upheaval. But fast-forward eight years and the party’s fortunes have plummeted. Just two MSPs have been returned at each of the last two elections, amid concerns over policy direction and organisational capacity.

The Greens have provided a welcome diversity in the Scottish political mainstream and Patrick Harvie is certainly one of the most engaging and able leaders at Holyrood. But the party’s recent election campaign was characterised by a hard left economic agenda.

This included the prospect of raising income tax by 0.5p through the Scottish variable rate and a “Robin Hood” tax on financial transactions. Plans to introduce a land value tax to replace council tax and business rates prompted criticism from rural landowners and property firms who feared they would be hammered.

Clement Attlee’s post-war nationalising Labour government was cited in the Green manifesto and many senior figures at Holyrood, admittedly on the right, scorned the party’s plans in May as little more than a socialist policy agenda. The Greens big message seemed to focus on using the powers of the Scottish Parliament to defend against the coalition government’s cuts agenda.

Now this sentiment may have been in line with large swathes of public opinion in Scotland. But have the Greens drifted away from their core environmental message and lost votes in the process? They should have been able to attract disaffected Liberal Democrats in May. The parties are natural environmental bedfellows, despite the renowned animosity among activists. But Lib Dems seemed to migrate en masse to the SNP and aspirations of up to seven or eight Green MSPs proved wildly optimistic.

Party insiders insist the problem is more one of capacity than policy. With about 200 members across Scotland and only about £100,000 of campaign funds, it’s difficult to compete with the £1 million war chest of the SNP, as well as the grassroots network of activists which Labour and the Nationalists are able to mobilise at elections.

They also insist voting patterns are more complicated than a first glance suggests. Many disgruntled Liberal Democrat voters switched to Labour, while Iain Gray’s party in turn lost many votes to the Nationalists.

But the fact remains that Scots weren’t sticking their black cross in the box marked Green.

More than a decade on since the Green parliamentary movement took off at the inaugural Holyrood elections, the time appears ripe for a fundamental policy rethink at the heart of its Scottish power base.