This morning co-convenors of the Scottish Greens former Leith councillor Maggie Chapman and Patrick Harvie MSP launched the party’s biggest ever council campaign at the Remakery on Leith Walk.
There will be more than 200 candidates up for election in May more than double the 80 who stood for the party in 2012.
The Greens say they want to increase existing councillor numbers in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeenshire, Midlothian and Stirling, and are confident of electing the party’s first councillors in many of Scotland’s remaining 27 local authorities.
Green councillors could hold the balance of power on many councils, and the party’s candidates – who are due to meet this Saturday in Glasgow for the party’s Spring Conference – are pledging to use their influence to put power in the hands of local communities to protect local services.
Patrick said: “Our councils need more voices speaking up for good jobs and strong public services. Social enterprises are a great example of the kind of economy we should be encouraging.
“Green MSPs have demonstrated their commitment to protecting local services, by securing an extra £160million from the Scottish Government for councils to spend on local priorities. It’s this bold and constructive approach that more Green councillors will bring to our local authorities.”
Maggie said: “More people than ever will have the opportunity to elect Green councillors this May. All our candidates are dedicated local campaigners and believe strongly in putting power in the hands of local people.
“As a councillor for Leith Walk I was able to push forward initiatives such as participatory budgeting – where communities decide how funds are spent – and a living wage for council employees. These have both become national initiatives since being adopted by a Council. I have no doubt that more Green councillors will mean more support for vital public services such as schools, social care, leisure and culture.”
Susan Rae who is standing as a Green candidate for the Leith Walk Ward said: “Greens are delighted to have the Remakery in Leith Walk, but then it is the perfect place for an innovative social enterprise to be. It has a strong sense of identity and abounds with creativity, expertise, artists, business folk, makers and radical thinkers working within the community to strengthen and grow it – the essence in fact of Green thinking.
“We need more Green Councillors to drive our initiatives forward, to prioritise housing, support community groups, continue to fight for higher wages and encourage a bold and radical approach to strengthening our community, and our City.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
A Vote for the Greens might as well be a vote for the SNP. A total waste of time.
They have already demonstrated that in Edinburgh.
correct pa broon and as co covenor i am shocked maggie chapman cant even acknowledge recent emails to her office ,far less actually respond .
i also would like given their recent trip up the snp gumtree of supporting the snp local tax hike ,where they now stand high n dry with the hike having been scrapped .To me they look like there is a lot ,an awful lot of Egg on their Faces and if they are not all psychopomps they (the pros candidates ought to have publically had it out with the party leaders on this matter . In addition the point that every other “green ” org across Europe Dumped socialism long before the Berlin wall collapsed ,so why is it STILL at the forefront of the reddest green party on the planet ? how can they justify the snp on their abysmal track record and the fact the parliament cant function ,far lessthe electorate decide if report after report is “STILL KIDNAPPED ” in the first ministers office and money is flung around like confetti hiding the problems rather than discussing them to find solutions .
Just one example the police cyber crime report Languishoing in Nicola Sturgeons office for how many months at a time when the web inventor is critiucising politicians FOR NOT DOING ENOUGH !
Just who do you think sir Tim Bernars Lee has in mind ?
and with the Eu steadily letting big corporations bully govts why is the green policy to stay in Eu when Westminster is saving us from this growing burocracy ?http://truepublica.org.uk/eu/ec-entrenches-dangerous-isds-system-global-super-court-corporations-subvert-democracy/
well for someone allegedly holding the snp’s feet to the fire their toes must be freezing off like icicles under maggie chapman and pompous Patrick .Their own website still blows their own trumpet about a now scrapped and abandoned budget .
The reddest green party on the planet sums them up to atee ,if they are green it is industrial Luddite more than anything else as the snp hide document after document .one would have thought reducing int’l airports in central Scotland would be a priority but have you heard of ANY GREEN MSP OR EDINBURGH councillor even whimper for a glimpse of the publicpurse paid for investigation on Prestwick ,its £1 price tag costing a mere forty million in EXTRAS AND WE KNOW NOT WHAT FOR .
At £100,000 pounds any decent Edinburgh councillor would be demanding to see this report every day for the past two yeasr that it has been hidden.
Some burning toes Maggie HUH!
“holding the Key” ??? Really ?Which councils exactly ? i think this is fanciful creative writing and can’t seem to find any council where reality actually confirms this assertion .
Then again the green leadership constantly spouts nonsense which it can’t then retract .Just look at the Budget support ,what do they say more in one afternoon than a decade of Labour or some such nonsense https://greens.scot/blog/patrick-harvie-how-we-made-the-snp-budget-lean-to-green here read it for yourselves ,still live but wholly inaccurate now that budget was scrapped . I hope the greens are not all as uber optimistic that he hopes the electorate awaits with baited breath their next pronouncement . If ever the inventor of the web was pinpointing the chameleon shape shifter of this green leader as the dodgy politician holding up support to a now internationally discredited group of politicians putting party interest before State , it must have been Mr Harvie & co.slippery is not the strongest word i could chose http://webfoundation.org/2017/03/web-turns-28-letter/
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