THE Scottish Greens need a co-leader who is not an MSP, a party councillor has argued.
The Greens will elect a new co-leadership team over the summer, with Patrick Harvie set to step down after 17 years. Lorna Slater, his co-leader since 2019, will stand again but is expected to face a challenge.
Writing in the Green Left Scotland blog, Dan Hutchison, a Green councillor for Govan in Glasgow, said he believed the party needed leadership that is not “swept up in the circus of Holyrood”.
Hutchison gave credit to Harvie for helping to launch the “Greens in the public’s mind from tree huggers to a real and important political force” during the 2014 independence campaign, but said it was time for him to stand aside as party co-leader.
He wrote: “For four years now, both our co-leaders have been MSPs and for most of that, government ministers. It’s totally understandable why their focus was on the jobs they do.
“We’re at a crossroads now though. Any time political parties see a shift in leadership, it absolutely is the right time to stop, reflect, and consider what we could do better next time.”
The Govan councillor went on: “I want the Scottish Greens to elect a councillor as one of their co-leaders.
“I want someone to lead us who sits with their community council every month and aren’t swept up in the circus of Holyrood.
“I want the people of Scotland to see a public servant who is ingrained in their own community on the TV.
“Way too often we look only to our MSPs to lead the way – this is backwards. We have an extraordinary wealth of talent amongst our local representatives.”
Hutchison pointed to Green councillors across Scotland, including Edinburgh Greens council group leader Susan Rae, Luna Martin in Argyll and Bute, and Anthony Carroll in Glasgow.
He added: “Councillors may not debate in a chamber as often or stand in front of TV cameras as regularly, but are soundbites and good video clips what we need from a leader?
“Or would we be better with someone on the ground, with their finger on the pulse and who are invested in delegating power to communities?”
When Slater was elected co-leader of the Greens in 2019, she was not an elected representative – though had stood for the party in council, Westminster, and Holyrood elections.
She won a seat in Holyrood on the Lothian list in the 2021 Holyrood elections.
Speaking to The Sunday National, Harvie declined to back anyone, even Slater, in the Scottish Greens’ upcoming leadership elections. He said that whether the leaders should be MSPs or not was a decision for party members.
He said: “I've no doubt there'll be some people who make the case within the party that our co-leaders should be in Holyrood to have that profile, to have that prominence, to put questions to the First Minister, and there'll be some people in the party who think that's not necessarily a requirement.
“It's not a constitutional requirement, it’s never been a constitutional requirement. But it's a political judgement for every party member to make, not just should I vote for an MSP because they're an MSP, but who the right voices are to represent green politics and to take green politics forward.
“I'm not going to tell other members how to reach that judgement. It's for every party member to reach that judgement. I'll reach my own. I don't know that I'm going to tell anyone what it is yet.”
