Edinburgh councillor chosen to lead the Green Party in Scotland

MAGGIE CHAPMAN SELECTED AS SCOTTISH GREENS CO-CONVENER

Edinburgh councillor Maggie Chapman has been selected as the new co-convener of the Scottish Green Party, succeeding Councillor Martha Wardrop who did not stand for re-election.

Ms Chapman, the Scottish Greens’ lead candidate in May’s European election, is a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, an Educational Institute of Education Universities’ Lecturers Association activist and councillor for the Leith Walk ward in the capital.

Maggie will assume the female co-convener post in December and serve alongside male co-convener Patrick Harvie MSP who was re-elected in a postal ballot of all party members.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Chapman has been a city councillor since 2007 and has secured a participatory budgeting process for Leith, campaigned for workers’ rights in the care sector, and fought against the privatisation of council services.

Ms Chapman said:-“With the independence referendum less than a year away, we need to raise our voices for a different kind of Scotland. We need to stand up to Westminster politicians who are trying to shift blame for our economic woes off bankers and onto immigrants; off the rich and onto the unemployed. I’ll be campaigning for a Scotland that’s run for people, not for profit; that hands power to communities, not to corporations.

“To win the referendum, it’s going to be crucial that Greens inspire people with a vision of a different kind of Scotland – where we build an economy which pays work properly and respects carers; where we see public services as the bedrock of our civilisation; where we put equality ahead of greed.”

Patrick Harvie said:-“Maggie Chapman will build on the good job Martha Wardrop has done in the role and we’d all like to thank Martha for her work. Our eyes are firmly on getting Scotland its first Green MEP and securing a Yes vote in the independence referendum.”