YOU can just imagine months ago the Scottish Greens communications gurus sitting around a table, socially distanced of course, and deciding what would go into their Scottish Borders Green News leaflet covering winter and spring.
They came up with a list of their achievements and managed to scrape together four of them from the last five-year session of the Scottish Parliament.
Patrick Harvie MSP apparently personally changed the law of Scotland to ban companies in tax havens getting business support cash during the pandemic.
The Scottish Green MSPs are reportedly proud of increasing tax for the richest people in Scottish society, and after the “disaster of the 2020’s SQA grading system” it was the Greens who used their negotiating position “to secure a solution on behalf of all the young people, teachers and families affected”.
Achievement number four was that “the Scottish Greens have secured free bus travel for all under-19s in Scotland. Apparently “this is the largest single win for an opposition party in Scottish history”.
Labour’s Monica Lennon might quibble with that, given her triumph in getting all party-support for her historic law on free period products, but hey, if we start leaflet claims fact-checking there will be nothing left in the paper.
What a pity for the Greens that the picture – probably the only one they had – of their MSPs claiming the under-19 bus pass victory features all of their MSPs at the time.
For right there in the middle of the pic behind Harvie is none other than Andy Wightman, who not only left the party in December but is standing against them as an independent in the Highlands and Islands regional list contest.
At least they didn’t photoshop Wightman out, but here’s a memo to the Greens’ leaflet producers: do keep up, people.
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