Greens’ voices are vital to protecting our climate future
This is the first time I’ve written a column from London. It's been great to be here, but there's been no time for sightseeing. Right from the moment I got off the train at Kings Cross on Sunday, it’s been a busy flurry of meetings.
My Scottish Green co-leader, Patrick Harvie and I have been down for a Green summit with our counterparts from the Green parties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It’s been a really good and all-too rare opportunity to get together in-person and a reminder that while our movement respects the independence of parties, we also share a huge passion for working together.
I was excited to discuss the successes we have had with Scottish Greens in government in Holyrood. Some of the steps we have been able to take have set a bar for what is possible for governments across the UK: banning permission for new incinerators, record investment in active travel infrastructure and renewables, and introducing free bus travel for young people.
We’re part of a UK-wide movement, but are also a global one. Wherever you look, there are Green politicians leading the change and turning the things we have long campaigned for into reality. Being able to speak to allies in the European Green Party and the Global Greens has given Patrick and I invaluable support and meant we could hit the ground running.
There are, of course, differences, sometimes big ones. But through collaboration and consensus we can work those out and build solutions. It’s not unlike the approach we have taken to government in Scotland, where we have worked with the SNP to deliver a programme for government and successive budgets that have clear green values running through them.
The years ahead will be crucial for our planet, and the upcoming general election will be key to shaping the UK’s response. By securing the biggest possible vote for Green candidates and parties we can send shockwaves through Westminster.
It is not least because of the undemocratic electoral system that Caroline Lucas is the only Green MP to have made it to the House of Commons so far. But, if polls are to be believed, she definitely won’t be the last.
Despite being a lone voice, Caroline has done a fantastic job of forcing the environment up the political agenda. Think what more she could have done with even a handful of Green colleagues in there with her. Green votes can transform politics across the UK, as they are in Scotland.
That was our message to the assembled media, and the message we’ll be taking into the general election. Because only the Green movement can deliver the change we need.