Scottish Greens launch manifesto as party fields only three candidates

Scottish Greens have launched their manifesto for the General Election, with the party apologising to supporters across the country who cannot vote for them as they are fielding just three candidates.

Despite the Scottish Green Party running a limited campaign, co-convener Patrick Harvie said they would “hopefully give Scotland its best chance yet of electing a Green voice to Westminster”.

Mr Harvie, who has been an MSP for Glasgow for 14 years, is standing in the Glasgow North seat, and has already pledged to quit Holyrood if he is voted into Westminster.

The only other Green candidates standing are Lorna Slater in Edinburgh North and Leith and Debra Pickering in Falkirk, a decision said to be based on resources.

With Scots having voted to stay in the European Union in 2016, the manifesto backs a second independence referendum to give people an alternative to a “hard Brexit UK”.

Green MPs will also push for freedom of movement to be continued post- Brexit and for the retention of environmental regulations stemming from Brussels.

Mr Harvie, who launched the manifesto in a Glasgow cafe, said: “We need Green voices at Westminster to stand up in defence of those critical social and environmental protections that have been hard won over the years, as well as ensuring Scotland has its right to choose its future in the future.”

He stated: “The Greens have always been a pro-European party and over our time as an active part of European politics, we've achieved a lot from controlling toxic chemicals to capping banking bonuses - the result of Green action in the European Parliament.

“A great many of those achievements are going to be in the hands of the UK Parliament with some of the Tory backbenches calling for a bonfire of the regulations that will literally put people's lives on the line.”

With the party not contesting 56 seats in Scotland, Mr Harvie said: “I'm sorry to many Green voters around the country who don't have a chance to vote Green and I know many of them have been coming down to help in Edinburgh North and Leith, in Glasgow and in Falkirk, where we are able to stand candidates.”

And where people do not have the option of voting Green he urged them to “challenge all of their candidates on the issues that are most important to them''.

Mr Harvie said: “For some people the issue of climate change will be absolutely front and centre, top of the list of priorities.

“For others it might be nuclear weapons, it might be economic policy and the harm that is being inflicted on some of the most vulnerable people in society.

“For others it will be Scotland's ability to choose its own future.

“Put all of those issues to your candidates and judge them as individuals.”

A low carbon economy, centred on renewables, energy efficiency and decommission in the North Sea, could create 200,000 jobs in Scotland by 2035, according the Green manifesto.

Co-convener Maggie Chapman said: “I'll allow you some feelings of deja-vu as you flick through this manifesto - this is the seventh time we gathered before we go to the polls in the last three years.

“So these ideas are ideas we've been developing, policies we've been working on and have put forward over the last three years and come together in this manifesto for the Westminster elections.”