THE Scottish Greens will tomorrow descend on a former industrial heartland in the west of Scotland for their spring conference as the party step up their bid to win over support from Labour voters.
Around 150 activists are expected to attend the event, which takes place weeks after Patrick Harvie’s party were seen as a key influence over the Scottish Government’s introduction of a five-band income tax system. They also successfully negotiated a Budget deal with the minority SNP administration.
The deal saw the six Green MSPs support Finance Secretary Derek Mackay’s plans in return for a package which included £170 million more for local councils than the Government had proposed.
Tomorrow’s one-day conference is being held in the historic shipbuilding town of Greenock for the first time. It had been a safe Labour safe seat at Westminster and Holyrood until recent years, but is now represented by the SNP in both parliaments.
The conference also takes place amid a backdrop of some speculation that the pro-independence Greens could end up forming a coalition government with the SNP after the next Holyrood election in 2021.
“At the last Scottish election we got our first MSP for the West of Scotland in Ross Greer and we want to cement his position and build on that,” one senior insider told The National.
“It is symbolic that we are holding our conference in Greenock. We we are making clear to people there are no regions where we are off limits.
“There is a core chunk of voters who voted Yes in 2014, and they might like some of the Corbyn stuff but realise when it comes to Holyrood it is the Greens where things are at. essentially. Our pitch is that while Labour are here in Holyrood in greater numbers than us, they are not getting anything done. We, on the other hand, are stopping cuts to council budgets.
“The choice is, ‘do you want a party that thinks radical thoughts, but doesn’t get anything done, or a party, like us, that gets things done’?”
Asked about the prospect of forming a coalition government with the SNP, the insider said: “It does feel that Scotland wants to go in a progressive direction. We have pushed the SNP on income tax and fracking.
“We would have to look at the numbers, but what political party doesn’t want to be making decisions? A Green government would be lovely.”
Independence, Brexit, tax reform and climate change are among the issues set to feature at the conference at the Beacon Arts Centre on the banks of the Clyde.
It will be addressed by Greer as well as party co-convenors Patrick Harvie and Maggie Chapman. Steven Agnew of the Northern Ireland Greens and Jean Lambert, a London Green MEP, will also speak.
Activists will also discuss the findings of an Ipsos Mori poll published earlier this week which showed support for Scottish independence at 48 per cent.
That is an increase of three points since the 2014 referendum and one of the highest levels of support recorded by pollsters
The event will also include a Greens Women’s Network mini-conference. It will start with a workshop run by Women for Independence looking at feminist and democratic arguments for self-determination.
It will also consider whether there is a “household economic”arguments for independence.
Workshops will be held throughout the day on subjects ranging from housing and homelessness to tax reform and combating the far right.
There will also be a session for members on strategies to improve the representation of women in elected positions.
Just one of the party’s six MSPs elected at the 2016 Holyrood election is a woman and there was concern the party did not do enough to ensure a fairer gender balance among their prospective MSPs.
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