Scottish Green party co-leaders Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay during a visit to the Palestine Museum Scotland in Edinburgh, October 17, 2025
THE new leaders of the Scottish Greens have vowed to “mobilise public anger” and put hope back into politics ahead of next year’s Holyrood elections.
Co-leader Ross Greer — elected on 298 first-preference votes — opened his keynote address at the party’s conference in Edinburgh on Saturday with a boast at the recent boost in party membership: up to 8,279, ahead of the Scottish Tories and Lib Dems.
He speculated that the figure may have surpassed Scottish Labour’s tally should the party “actually publish their membership figures.”
Turning to policy, he told members: “We have one world, one planet and one opportunity to save it. People want hope right now, and it is the Scottish Greens who will bring hope back to this country’s politics.
“We recognise that life in the UK isn’t working for millions of people. Every day I speak to constituents who are really struggling. It’s not an accident or by some force of nature. Their life is made miserable by the people with much more power than them.
“It’s a rigged system, not a broken one.”
In her address, co-leader Gillian Mackay observed: “There are millions of people across Scotland who aren’t only scunnered: they’re angry.
“They’re angry at a system that has exploited them and their loved ones. They’re angry that they are working harder, but prices are rising faster than their wages.
“They’re angry that it’s becoming even harder to get by while the rich are getting richer.
“They’re angry at the governments who have promised so much and failed to deliver.
“They’re angry to see so much misery in a country that is so wealthy. They’re angry at an economy that is rigged against them.
“And I’m angry too.
“We have to be the party that mobilises that anger. We have to be the party that stands with those workers, with the trade union movement and with the people and communities on the front line of Westminster’s cruelty.
“We have to be the ones who are calling for climate action grounded in the skills that we have here in Scotland. We have to be the ones who prove that a fairer, greener, independent Scotland isn’t just possible, it’s essential.”
