WATCHING the Westminster parties squabbling among themselves emphasises the need for independence and for Scotland to do things differently.

Watching snippets from the Labour conference was a dispiriting experience. The infighting was pretty unedifying, and so were the decisions to oppose free movement, public ownership and electoral reform.

The Tory conference will be even worse. Boris Johnson (below) and his colleagues will do everything they can to blame others for their failings and to distract from the real problems that people are facing.

Because the reality is that a lot of people are hurting. The last year and a half have been challenging for all of us, with people on low incomes and families in cramped and overcrowded housing being hit particularly hard.

The National:

Yet many of the solutions we are getting from Westminster are only going to make things worse. The cut to Universal Credit will cost claimants £1000 per year, with many of them also being hit by an increase in National Insurance that will disproportionately hurt people with stretched budgets.

Next weekend will be the Scottish Greens conference. We won’t have the same big-budget staging, rolling media coverage or corporate stalls as the Westminster parties. What we will have is unity, vision and purpose. And those are far more important.

When we get together in Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth we will be talking about the issues that really matter, and about the future we want for Scotland. It is not a future of Tory austerity and cuts. Rather, it is one that rebuilds our communities and gives us the fairer, greener recovery that Scotland needs and wants.

We have already taken some of the vital steps towards this using the powers granted through devolution. In the last parliament, Green MSPs secured free bus travel for everyone under 22, which will come into effect next year, and free school meals for all primary school-age children.

The co-operation agreement that we negotiated with the Scottish Government will allow us to do even more to improve people’s lives. We will create thousands of high-quality green jobs by doubling our onshore wind capacity and making a record investment in marine energy. We will introduce new and better rights for tenants, including rent controls, and establish a locally nuanced National Care Service with improved pay and conditions for the carers who have done so much for us.

But the reality is that there are big constraints on what we can do as long as we are working within the limited constraints set by Westminster. If we are to realise Scotland’s full potential, then we need the powers to do so. Independence cannot be an end in itself. It cannot be the end of a conversation. It can only be the beginning. It is a vital and exciting conversation that must be open to everyone, and where any of us can take part and put our ideas on the table.

When I think of the Highland and Island communities that I represent, I know that the people who live in the region have a very different lived experience from those who live in the central belt. I know that they don’t just want power taken out of London only for it to be centralised in Edinburgh. Power has to be passed down and devolved, with local people empowered to make decisions about their lives and the services that impact them.

Lockdown has underlined how fragile many jobs and livelihoods are. People across the country have experienced a great deal of anxiety, with many waking up every day and not knowing if their jobs will still exist by the end of it.

What we need is a whole new and transformative approach to economics and wellbeing that puts people and wellbeing first. Everyone deserves peace of mind and security, particularly at a time of crisis.

With independence we can provide the means and tools for everyone to realise their full potential and build a fairer and better economy with Universal Basic Income at its heart. Think how different the pandemic would have been if people could have had greater confidence that their needs would be met by a government that was working for them. Unfortunately, time is not on our side. The climate crisis is only going to get worse. Across the world and within the UK, we are seeing extreme weather events and the loss of wildlife and nature. But the solution from Downing Street is to carry on with business as usual and to drill more oil.

The COP climate conference in Glasgow must be a call for real and meaningful international climate action, and, as the host nation, Scotland should be at the heart of it and leading the change.

But how do we get there from here? How do we do it in a manner that is sustainable and allows a fair and just transition for fossil fuel workers? How do we make sure that everyone can contribute and that their voices are heard?

These are the conversations that we will be having. So forget about the Keir and Boris show. Join my Green colleagues and I next weekend in Edinburgh for our annual conference. Join our movement, join the conversation, and help us to build a fairer, greener and independent future.