The Scottish Greens have an “unprecedented opportunity” to make “real progress” in next year’s Holyrood elections, the party’s joint leader is to tell activists.
The party, which has seen its membership swell to more than 9,000 in the wake of last year’s independence referendum, is holding its largest-ever Scottish conference in Glasgow this weekend.
The Greens have had MSPs at Holyrood since the start of the devolved parliament in 1999. While there are two Green MSPs at the moment, the party returned seven MSPs in 2003.
Polls have suggested the party could win as many as 10 seats in next May’s Holyrood election, with co-convener Patrick Harvie running in the first-past-the-post Glasgow Kelvin constituency.
Mr Harvie, who will address up to 700 party members at the conference today, said: “We have an unprecedented opportunity to make real progress next year.
“With our surging membership and strong polling, we can run a campaign like nothing we’ve ever managed before and deliver a record number of Green MSPs.”
He stated: “We will campaign on our track record and our vision of a fairer, greener Scotland.
“We’ve been at Holyrood since the start and we’ve got transformational ideas onto the agenda.
“We’ve helped cut fuel bills by pushing for energy efficiency programmes, we’ve empowered local communities with the Climate Challenge Fund, we’re giving football fans the prospect of ownership of their club and we’re a step closer to gaining rent controls to protect tenants from spiralling costs.
“On unconventional gas extraction we have relentlessly pursued ministers to protect our communities.
“Scottish Greens should be proud of the role we have played and we can offer voters in May a clear choice of opposing extreme energy industries.
“Holyrood needs a bold voice to ensure we close the wealth gap, build strong local economies, restore truly progressive taxation and start meeting our world-leading climate change targets. Scottish Greens are trusted, credible and our time is now.”