Scottish Greens are welcoming the latest Holyrood polls suggesting the party is on course to secure a much bigger group of MSPs in the 2016 election and that the public trusts the party to hold the Scottish Government to account.
A Survation poll for the Daily Mail has the Scottish Greens on 11 per cent on the regional vote, which suggests 12 MSPs.
A YouGov poll for the Times shows that a total of 16 per cent of people believe the Scottish Greens – who currently have 2 MSPs – are effective at holding the Scottish Government to account, the same percentage given for Labour who have 38 MSPs. The percentage of people who felt each party was ineffective was larger for Labour.
Consistent polling suggests Green MSPs will be elected across each of the 8 parliamentary regions.
The party, whose membership now numbers 9,000, has already selected their lead candidates for all 8 regions, including MSPs Patrick Harvie (Glasgow), Alison Johnstone (Lothian) and John Finnie (Highlands and Islands). In addition, Patrick Harvie will contest the Glasgow Kelvin constituency and Alison Johnstone will contest Edinburgh Central.
Research also shows Scottish Greens Co-convener Patrick Harvie MSP has the highest approval rating of the Holyrood opposition leaders, and that most people think the Scottish Greens have the best policies for Scotland’s environment.
Alison Johnstone MSP said:
“Patrick Harvie and I have worked hard to challenge the Scottish Government on key issues but have also sought to be constructive to take Scotland forward. We pushed for a ban on fracking, which led to the SNP’s moratorium; we called for energy efficient housing to become a national infrastructure priority, which the finance minister then agreed to do; and we proposed the right to buy your club for football fans, which the government then put into legislation.
“With a bigger Green team at Holyrood we can build on these successes. We must create more and better jobs in our economy, and support Scotland’s small businesses. We must prioritise our neglected colleges and relieve pressures on our NHS. And we must challenge the failure to meet climate change targets, and the uncertainty facing communities being targeted for fracking and coal gasification.”