Scottish Greens conference: Scotland can play leading role in green Europe, says Lorna Slater

She told the Scottish Greens conference in Stirling, that while she was proud of the cooperation agreement negotiated with the SNP, it was only a starting point.

The deal put the Greens in power for the first time anywhere in the UK and Slater said it made the “difference between calling for something to be done and being able to directly deliver it”.

She also told conference that an independent Scotland could play a leading role in the just transition away from fossil fuels across Europe.

READ MORE: Lorna Slater issues challenge to Priti Patel and Boris Johnson

She said the fact Scotland has a quarter of the continent’s offshore renewable potential was a route to “a Scotland that leads our continent as we move on from Putin and his fossil fuels.”

The UK Government and Scottish Conservatives have instead placed a renewed emphasis on expanding fossil fuel production.

Slater went on to slam the UK Government’s record on providing assistance to Ukrainian refugees.

“We can build a fairer, greener and independent Scotland that stands proudly at the heart of Europe and offers safety and solidarity to refugees,” she said. “We can be the Scotland of Kenmure Street, not Downing Street.

“We in Scotland want to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We want to welcome those who need sanctuary into our homes, but instead our doors have been slammed shut by a UK Government that is singularly failing to step up to its humanitarian responsibilities.

“Every day of inaction will make a terrible situation worse. My message to Boris Johnson and Priti Patel is to stop putting paperwork and bureaucracy ahead of people’s lives.”

While independence has not yet been achieved, the co-operation agreement between the Greens and the SNP was already bearing fruit, Slater said, and an example of this included a proposed ban on companies dumping unsold goods.

Slater, the circular economy minister, recalled how she had previously pressed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the “national disgrace of companies across Scotland destroying thousands of unsold items every week, including computer equipment, books and even face masks”.

“As part of a Circular Economy Bill I will take through Parliament, we aim to ban the destruction of unsold goods,” said Slater. “That isn’t something that we could have done from the backbenches. It’s the difference between opposition and government. It’s the difference between calling for something to be done and being able to deliver it.”

She said Scotland was also looking at implementing a “ban on many of the worst and most damaging single-use plastics that pollute our oceans and litter our coasts” – with new polling showing 76% of people are in favour of this.

Slater said: “It is a ban that is being introduced by Greens in Government, and will be delivered by Greens in government.”

But she added: “There’s far more to come. We’re just getting started.

“We are doubling on-shore wind capacity, introducing at least one new national park, publishing a Circular Economy Bill, delivering rent controls and so much more.”

READ MORE: Patrick Harvie hits back at Scottish Tory attack line on North Sea oil and gas

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie also addressed the conference, saying that tackling fuel poverty and energy efficiency would protect vulnerable households from volatile global energy prices.

“We need to insulate Scotland,” he said. “Against our northern hemisphere cold, the blight of fuel poverty and a reliance on turbulent fossil fuel markets which bloat brutal regimes and destroy our planet.

“That is why my first major statement as a minister set a target of converting over one million homes to zero emissions heating by the end of this decade and why we are already seeing the first allocations of our £1.8bn funding over this Parliament.”

Harvie also rejected the Tories’ call to ramp up fossil fuel production, for which he said they were using the war in Ukraine as “justification”.