Scottish Greens claim they are gaining across the country

The Scottish Greens say they are making gains across Scotland according to an Ipsos poll for STV.

The party say their local manifesto pledges to put power into people’s hands, protecting local services, connect communities with better transport and broadband  and build more affordable homes.

They also urge voters to choose candidates who have campaigned on local not national issues, saying they are specifically targeting the Tories.

They have 218 candidates across the country which is many more than in 2012 when they only had 80 candidates.

Here in Edinburgh there are 17 Green candidates. You can read the full list of candidates here.

Meanwhile the Greens are appealing to STV who have apparently missed them out of any planned political debates ahead of the General Election.

STV have said that the debate planned for 24 May 2017 will include leaders of the four main parties. The Scottish Greens explain that they have more MSPs than the LibDems and claim that they are polling ahead of the LibDems for the council elections next week.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “STV froze us out of their general election debate in 2015 but doing so two years later after so much has changed in Scottish politics is simply bizarre. Patrick Harvie was on the stage in their Holyrood election debate just last year. Viewers will be baffled and disappointed by our exclusion and we would encourage them to make their feelings known.

“The lack of balance given the ongoing constitutional question is extraordinary. The Green MSPs’ prominent role in Scottish politics is certain to feature in the debate, so it’s completely unacceptable that we won’t be there to address references to us.

“We hope STV see sense and put on a fair debate, which we’d be delighted to take part in. We will announce our candidates for the general election after the results of the important council elections at the end of next week.”