PATRICK Harvie has announced he plans to step down as co-leader of the Scottish Greens and the question of who will replace him will be firmly on voters’ minds.
Harvie has been part of the Greens leadership for 17 years, so this will be a huge decision for the direction of the party as the 2026 Holyrood election looms large.
Harvie said he intends to put himself forward for selection to be an MSP candidate in 2026.
The question of who replaces Harvie is also of great interest considering the co-chair of the party’s executive resigned last month, accusing a “Holyrood caste” of being ready to “gut your friend before laying a scratch on the enemy”.
Jen Bell claimed there was a “clique” within the Greens at the Scottish Parliament who would “jealously, viciously, hoard their privilege”.
Here are some of the potential runners and riders:
Ross Greer
It is highly expected Ross Greer – who will have been a Green MSP for a decade come the election – will run for co-leadership.
He is the party’s finance spokesperson and is understood to have been a key influence in the party’s response to Scottish Government Budgets, particularly since the fall of the Bute House Agreement.
However, sources have suggested he is unpopular with the membership, so it remains to be seen how easy he will find securing the position if he decides to go for it.
Gillian Mackay
One Green MSP who is popular with the membership is Gillian Mackay, who may well want to build on her success in getting her first piece of legislation through Parliament and have a shot at party co-leadership.
As per party rules, one of the Green co-leaders must be a woman. While current co-leader Lorna Slater has announced she will go again for leadership, there is no reason why another woman could not join her as co-leader.
Mackay led on getting the Abortion Services Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Act through parliament, which now prohibits anti-abortion protesters from demonstrating within 200m of a clinic. It received overwhelming support from MSPs, with only John Mason voting against it.
While Mackay does have her first child on the way, the fact that the party has co-leaders might mean going for the position is more of an option than perhaps it would be if there was just a sole leader.
Niall Christie
Niall Christie secured the party’s best-ever result in the Glasgow South constituency in the General Election last year.
He has been a prominent critic of the current leadership of the party and he has said Harvie stepping down “presents an opportunity to the party’s grassroots”.
He said: “Patrick stepping down presents an opportunity to the party’s grassroots, whether it’s myself, another ordinary member, or a popular councillor. That’s a question for another day.
“But it will be important to rebuild ourselves as a social movement as well as a political party, which is rooted in communities across the country.
“I really hope that come July, members have a chance to choose from more than just our MSPs.”
Lorna Slater
While she is already a co-leader of the party, in a video on social media platform TikTok on Wednesday afternoon Slater confirmed she would be re-standing for the position despite Harvie stepping back.
The party’s two co-leader roles are automatically put up for re-election every two years.
She said: "I'm really going to miss co-leading the Scottish Greens with Patrick Harvie and very much hope to work with him for many more years in the Scottish Green group at Holyrood.
"I'll be standing for co-leader again when the party votes for a new leadership team to take us into next year's Scottish elections."
