'Toxic politics' and right-wing conspiracy theories branded a threat to Scotland

Some in the SNP have blamed the Greens for the party of government’s drop in the polls. However, Mr Harvie’s own party has bucked the trend of a junior coalition partner taking a dip with public opinion.

Recent polling has suggested the Scottish Greens are on course for at least ten MSPs at the next Holyrood election, an improvement on the eight politicians the party has now at the Scottish Parliament.

But polling has also suggested the right-wing Reform UK could also gain a foothold at the Holyrood election, with projections indicating the party could win eight seats in the Scottish Parliament with a vote share of 8 per cent on the regional list vote.

Nigel Farage’s party gained 7 per cent of the vote share in Scotland at this year’s Westminster general election, but failed to get an MP elected north of the Border. Arguably, Reform winning 14.6 per cent of the vote in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency lost Douglas Ross his seat. Reform returned five MPs to Westminster in England.

The warning comes after two Aberdeenshire councillors joined Reform UK this week after quitting the Conservatives.

Ex-council chief Mark Findlater and his former Tory colleague Laurie Carnie have now become Reform’s first ever councillors in Scotland.

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay has admitted he needs to win back frustrated voters who backed Reform in July's Westminster election .

Speaking to The Scotsman about his party’s chances in 2026, Mr Harvie suggested the Scottish Greens had a good opportunity to add to their eight MSPs sitting in Holyrood.

He said: “The polls do suggest that we do have a significant potential for continued growth, not just in terms of how people vote.

“When we explore why people vote, we know there’s a great number of people whose next choice might be the Greens. I don’t want to set an upper limit on it.”

But Mr Harvie has also suggested that a further collapse of the Conservative vote at the 2026 Holyrood election would open the door to Reform and other right-wing parties. He said he believed that scenario could mean the “same kind of toxic politics” could emerge in Scotland that has happened across Europe and at Westminster.

“I do think some of the polling, particularly if the Conservative vote crashes and you get some far-right MSPs elected, as some of the polls suggest, there’s a real danger that the next session of the Scottish Parliament, if some of those far-right voices get elected, that we could see the same kind of toxic politics in Scotland emerge that we have seen at UK level and some other European countries,” he said.

“We’ve seen how ugly that has gone in the US where conspiracy theories are now the currency of politics.

“There’s a real need, not just for Greens, but our whole political spectrum, to reject that kind of toxic politics. That’s going to be a real test for the 2026 election.”