Exclusive:Ross Greer: Greens on cusp of 'huge breakthrough' as SNP Nicola Sturgeon voters 'surge' to party
The new co-leader of the Scottish Greens has stressed former SNP voters aligned with Nicola Sturgeon are fuelling increased support for his party.
Ross Greer has claimed the Scottish Greens are “on the cusp of a huge breakthrough” at next year's election - as his party takes advantage of progressive Nicola Sturgeon-supporting voters frustrated at the SNP’s “pivot back towards the centre ground”.
Mr Greer, the new co-leader of the Greens alongside Gillian Mackay, who is on maternity leave, declared his party could win up to 15 seats in May’s election - almost doubling the record results in 2021 that saw them return eight MSPs to Holyrood.
The co-leader has dismissed talk about party in-fighting, even branded a “civil war” by some, as “at most, half a dozen deeply disgruntled people”.
The 31-year-old told The Scotsman that if his party was in a position to rejoin the SNP in government, it should “take it seriously”.
According to the majority of polls, the Scottish Greens are on course to make gains at next year's election.
Greens set for ‘huge breakthrough
Mr Greer said: “We are on the cusp of a huge breakthrough at next year’s election and that will allow us to deliver the policies that will lift kids out of poverty, save native species, tackle the climate emergency.
“We’ve got a top team of 15 candidates. Obviously getting 15 would be a huge breakthrough.”
The West of Scotland MSP said the party's first “benchmark” was “making sure that everyone in Scotland has a Green MSP for the first time”.
He said: “We’ve never simultaneously elected an MSP for every single region. That would be historic in itself.
“But there are places, most obviously Glasgow, where we are capable of getting a second seat. In Edinburgh we’ve already got a second seat, so a third is what we are pushing for there.
“Even regions like my own, which we only won for the first time when I was first elected in 2016, we are now aiming not just to get me re-elected, but to get a second MSP as well.”
Mr Greer stressed “the polling shows that we are clearly capable of achieving a breakthrough”.
He said: “Everyone shows us, in a worst-case scenario, polling at what we got in the last election. But nine polls out of ten show us polling above what we got in 2021 and 2021 was a record result. So we are on track for something really quite exciting.”
Former Sturgeon SNP voters fuelling Greens surge
The co-leader told The Scotsman the biggest group of voters the Greens were winning over were former SNP supporters under Ms Sturgeon’s leadership who had left the party over its move to the centre under John Swinney’s leadership.
Mr Greer said: “The most common sub-group of voters that I’ve spoken to who were Labour in 2024 were people who consistently voted for the SNP under Nicola.
“Then they voted for Labour in 2024 to get rid of the Tories and now they intend for the Greens because they believe we are the only consistent, trustworthy progressive option.
“We’ve absolutely gained historically SNP voters from the progressive end of that party who have seen the SNP drop progressive policies - dropping their commitment to a conversion therapy ban, for example.”
He added: “They’ve seen this pivot back towards the centre ground and that’s simply not what they want. They want a party that’s trying to push the limits of devolution, that’s maximising the powers that we’ve got and doing that to fundamentally build something more progressive.
“The single largest group of voters that we’ve gained compared to 2021 are people who, certainly in the Nicola Sturgeon era, were nailed on ‘both votes SNP’.”
If the election result returns another SNP minority administration, the Greens could play another key role in supporting Mr Swinney as an opposition party or a return to government.
Prospect of Greens returning to Bute House
Despite the Bute House Agreement ending prematurely in a disastrous move by Humza Yousaf in April 2024, Mr Greer is adamant his party was able to achieve much more in government than in opposition.
He said: “We should take seriously any opportunity to re-join the Government if that’s the best way to deliver our policies. That’s not me suggesting that’s the most likely outcome of the election and it’s not entirely up to us. It’s up to the voters in the first instance, the SNP would have decisions to make in this regard as well. My interest is delivering Green policies.”
Mr Greer added: “We did a a lot in that period of time. If the opportunity arose to do that again, we should take it seriously.”
The party co-leader added: “I’m very clear that you can deliver far more in government than in opposition. There’s no point in delivering another party’s policies in government. But if we had the opportunity to deliver what we believe in, we should take it.
“This isn’t a game. We’re not here to run up the score and just elect as many MSPs as possible, so that we get to sit in a different bit of the chamber. Electing MSPs is a means to an end.”
READ MORE: 'Extreme' Kate Forbes could 'cook up' watered down conversion therapy ban, Patrick Harvie warns
The door to a second running of the Bute House Agreement, while still several steps away, has passed its first hurdle after SNP Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes announced she would not seek re-election.
Mr Greer had previously suggested Ms Forbes standing down would make a new pro-independence power-sharing agreement easier.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Mr Greer said: “I’m really sad about the reasons why Kate’s leaving.
“We have a massive difference, not just on LGBT equality, but we have huge differences on economics. I think it is a damning indictment of our political culture that once again we have a clearly very talented young woman leaving Scottish politics.
“In no way shape or form am I celebrating that Kate found this job incompatible with being a young mum.”
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