--- title: Scottish Green Party election profile date: 2021-04-21T16:53:00+01:00 author: Charlie Fox canonical_url: "https://staging.eauk.org/news-and-views/scottish-green-party-election-profile" section: Articles --- Share [ ](https://www.facebook.com/dialog/share?app_id=1769260916495219&href=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fscottish-green-party-election-profile) [ ](https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Scottish%20Green%20Party%20election%20profile&url=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fscottish-green-party-election-profile) [ ](https://www.facebook.com/dialog/send?app_id=1769260916495219&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fscottish-green-party-election-profile&link=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fscottish-green-party-election-profile&display=popup) [ ](mailto:?subject=Shared%20from%20Evangelical%20Alliance&body=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fscottish-green-party-election-profile) Copy link to this article Share this article Scottish Green Party election profile 2 min read Contents Share [ ](https://www.facebook.com/dialog/share?app_id=1769260916495219&href=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fscottish-green-party-election-profile) [ ](https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Scottish%20Green%20Party%20election%20profile&url=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fscottish-green-party-election-profile) [ ](mailto:?subject=Shared%20from%20Evangelical%20Alliance&body=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fscottish-green-party-election-profile) Copy link to this article Share this article Back to top In this article #### Overview The Scottish Green Party is an environmentally focused party, with their policies often being classified as left-wing, which currently holds five parliament seats. Whilst they are only the fourth largest party in the Scottish Parliament, their status as one of the only parties supporting Scottish Independence makes them important to the political prospects of parties across the spectrum. The Scottish Greens don’t have one leader like the rest of the major parties, their party constitution means they elect two co-leaders for two-year terms; one of these leaders must be a woman. Patrick Harvie, an MSP since 2003, and Lorna Slater, a previous candidate in various seats in Lothian, are the party’s co-leaders. #### Rebuilding Under the Scottish Greens, a one-off windfall tax on profits made by larger companies as a result of the pandemic will aid the rebalancing of the economy and support recovery. #### Environment The Green Party in Scotland have set a number of environmental targets as part of their election campaign, including: - further investment in renewable energy, including tidal and wind power; - improving home energy efficiency; - phasing out North Sea oil and gas extraction; - extending land reform, including banning grouse shooting and creating new opportunities for urban and rural communities; and - the reforestation of Scotland to the European average. #### Addiction The Scottish Greens’ policy for tackling Scotland’s drug problem is the treatment of drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal issue. #### Poverty To tackle poverty in Scotland, the Green Party has made commitments to: - introduce a universal basic income pilot scheme (the full powers to implement this do not currently lie with the Scottish Parliament and would need to be negotiated with the UK Government); - double the Scottish Child Payment; - increase grants for new-born children in low-income families and school clothing grants; - increase funding to local authorities so they can introduce grants to mitigate the effects of the benefit cap; and - introduce year-round free school meals for all pupils including breakfast. #### Justice Focusing on justice, the Green Party in Scotland have made a number of commitments as part of their election campaign, including: - reforming prisons, including special provisions for the mentally ill and for those who are pregnant; - the decriminalisation of sex work; - further funding for human trafficking awareness groups; and - and legal aid to all victims of domestic abuse. #### Other notable policies The Scottish Green Party has committed to retaining provisions introduced during the pandemic for early medical abortions at home. The party is also committed to introducing compassionate laws to allow the terminally ill the right to an assisted death. *Please see the full* [*Scottish Green Party manifesto*](https://greens.scot/ourfuture) *for more details.* Your reading Count on · turn off 0 You’ve read 0 articles in the last year. Behind what you’re reading is a movement of churches, organisations and individuals standing together. Join us and add your voice to the church being heard where it matters most. [Become a member](/membership/become-a-member/individuals/join-us) Privacy settings *›* Your article count is off. Nothing is being recorded on this device. Turn it back on ## Read next [ All news & views ](/news-and-views) - [ ![Could you be someone's Alison?](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27360%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![Could you be someone's Alison?](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) The Navigators UK Could you be someone's Alison? 26 October 2026 ](https://staging.eauk.org/news-and-views/could-you-be-someones-alison) - [ ![Where do you find belonging in a land far from home?](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27360%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![Where do you find belonging in a land far from home?](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) Chinese Overseas Christian Mission Where do you find belonging in a land far from home? 22 October 2026 ](https://staging.eauk.org/news-and-views/where-do-you-find-belonging-in-a-land-far-from-home) - [ ![Making sense of the government’s Immigration and Asylum Bill](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27360%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![Making sense of the government’s Immigration and Asylum Bill](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) Making sense of the government’s Immigration and Asylum Bill 19 October 2026 ](https://staging.eauk.org/news-and-views/making-sense-of-the-governments-immigration-and-asylum-bill)