Scottish Greens aim to return 16 MSPs at 2021 Holyrood elections

The Scottish Greens will aim to return 16 MSPs to Holyrood at the next Scottish Parliamentary elections in 2021, the party’s autumn conference will be told today.

Lorna Slater, Greens co-leader, says the party can increase its number of MSPs. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Increasing awareness of the climate emergency among Scots will help the Greens’ message resonate at the next Holyrood campaign, co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater will the party gathering in Inverness.

The party will use the event to unveil who has been selected to contest the regional lists in 2021, with activists confident they can build the required support over the next 18 months to win two seats from each of the electoral regions used for Holyrood ballots.

The Greens will claim they have aleady achiveved “considerable success” with its current crop of six MSPs, pointing to reforms Scotland’s income tax system, reversing the decline in local government funding, and winning new powers for councils to raise funds and take control of bus services.

The confernece will also be told that other Scottish parties have coalesced around long term targets for emissions reductions without any short term measures to significantly cut Scotland’s carbon footprint.

Party co-leader Lorna Slater is expected to tell the conference: “Only the Greens understand the climate emergency, know what needs to be done, and are determined enough to deliver transformative change.

“Every one of the 16 candidates we announce today can be elected in 2021.

“And just imagine the hope this could give us. The power to take the action needed to save the planet and build a new Scotland.

“Our time is now. In 2021, we can win. We can lead the way with a vision for a Green and independent Scotland.”