Scottish Greens 'riding same wave' as Green Party as membership boom continues

The Scottish Greens are celebrating different rank surge arsenic the enactment seeks to triumph its archetypal ever constituency spot astatine adjacent year's Holyrood election.

Last week, the enactment announced 800 caller members had joined successful the past six months - representing a 10% increase.

Now, much than 400 radical person signed up successful the past week alone.

The rank present stands astatine 8,680 - the highest level since 2016 - and is much than the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Liberal Democrats.

MSP Gillian Mackay, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said: "The surge successful our rank shows that determination is simply a wide request for eco-socialist policies that marque people's mundane lives better.

"That is what the Scottish Greens are offering.

"Last play we had our biggest enactment league for a decade, and I was delighted by however galore caller faces determination were successful the hall.

"There is an enthusiasm for bold ideas and policies and that is precisely what we volition beryllium moving to present betwixt present and adjacent May."

The Scottish Greens returned 8 MSPs successful the 2021 Scottish parliament election, with this being their champion effect to date.

The enactment is present aiming to prime up much seats successful 2026 - and volition beryllium competing for constituency arsenic good arsenic determination database votes.

As portion of the power-sharing Bute House Agreement with the SNP, the Scottish Greens championed escaped autobus question for under-22s, was astatine the forefront of the scrapping of highest ScotRail fares, and helped unafraid a nationalist money to constitute disconnected millions of pounds' worthy of schoolhouse repast debt.

However, the enactment was criticised for the Scottish government's doomed deposit instrumentality scheme (DRS).

Ms Mackay and Ross Greer were elected caller co-leaders of the Scottish Greens successful August. The brace replaced Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater.

Speaking to Sky News, polling adept Sir John Curtice said the Scottish Greens look to beryllium "riding overmuch the aforesaid wave" the Green Party successful England and Wales is presently enjoying.

The enactment southbound of the borderline precocious boasted a rank of much than 126,000 people, marking an 80% surge since Zack Polanski took implicit arsenic person past month.

Sir John, a governmental idiosyncratic and prof of authorities astatine the University of Strathclyde, said of the increases: "I simply presume it's mostly the merchandise of overmuch the aforesaid phenomenon, which is disenchantment with authorities amongst those connected the near - the people who are not acrophobic astir migration etc.

"The radical who enactment the Greens thin to beryllium alternatively further to the left. They're surely precise overmuch socially liberal."

Sir John said Ms Mackay and Mr Greer are yet to marque overmuch of an content connected the public.

He added: "Polanski has had a precise bully start. He's got charisma, he's got presence, helium is precise self-assured.

"I'm looking guardant to the leaders' statement which has Polansky versus (Nigel) Farage.

"They're some each the things that Keir Starmer, John Swinney, Ed Davey, Kemi Badenoch and Russell Findlay are not."

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Sir John noted that the Scottish Greens - which is chiseled from the Green Party - is not doing arsenic good successful the Scottish polls compared to the Green Party crossed the remainder of the UK arsenic it faces stiff contention from the SNP.

However, portion the Scottish Greens are enjoying a roar successful membership, the SNP has mislaid thousands of supporters.

Recent fiscal accounts showed SNP rank fell to 56,011 arsenic of 1 June 2025, down from 64,525 astatine the aforesaid clip past twelvemonth and little than fractional of its highest of astir 125,000 successful 2019.

Sir John said the SNP volition beryllium "worried" by the information supporters "have gone to the Greens, peculiarly connected the constituency vote".

He added: "So, you've got astir 10% of existent Yes (independence) supporters who accidental they're going to ballot for the Greens connected the constituency vote.

"We'll hold and spot however overmuch the Greens combat the constituency seats due to the fact that they don't usually combat much than the occasional one."

Despite First Minister John Swinney's latest program for different independency referendum, Sir John believes the SNP volition request a "great woody of luck" to triumph a bulk astatine Holyrood.

Earlier connected Friday, 3 Scottish Green councillors successful Glasgow and 1 of the party's apical candidates successful the metropolis defected to Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's Your Party.

Sir John said: "Certainly, 1 of the things that volition perchance marque beingness much hard for the Greens is if so the Corbyn task does instrumentality off."

The prof added: "But we're not determination yet astatine the moment."