THERE’S something particularly special and exciting about being a member of the Scottish Green Party, and something that makes our autumn conferences – such as that held this weekend in Scotland’s newest city of Dunfermline – all the more important an annual event.
The Scottish Greens are a democratic, grassroots, member-led organisation, and while other parties sometimes seem to treat their members as little more than just a source of income, members of the Scottish Greens are the very backbone of the party.
All of our party policy is determined by members, and our democratic processes are designed with participation and accessibility at the forefront.
Every member has the right to propose, amend and speak to motions, and is supported to facilitate collaboration and ensure that mounds of expertise and lived experience are injected into every topic we discuss.
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That’s not to say we’re anywhere near perfect.
we always have lots more work to do to maximise engagement and make our internal processes even better, especially as we continue to grow in both size and influence – but it’s clear to me that our approach to member-led democracy is one of our greatest strengths as a party, that we must protect this, and that other parties have a lot to learn.
At the Labour Party’s national conference in Liverpool three weeks ago, the party voted to back the nationalisation of energy – a common sense policy for a supposedly left-leaning party, especially one hoping to form a majority government in a parliament not restricted by the confines of devolution.
Yet just hours after the vote the party’s shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds informed the press that he and the party’s leadership would simply not be following that vote.
The concept of this is bizarre to a Scottish Greens member, where our votes and our voices actually mean something and our elected representatives are bound by our democratically decided policy.
Beyond our commitment to member-led democracy, the other thing that makes Scottish Greens conferences so special is seeing the fantastic diversity of our membership, and how this diversity and vast range of lived experiences make our policies – and our subsequent actions as a party of government – even stronger.
I was particularly moved by a fringe panel at this weekend’s conference by the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS). The panel was chaired by a deaf member of the Disabled Greens representative group, and featured two external speakers from NDCS, as well as Gillian Mackay MSP.
One of the panellists noted that it was the first panel she had ever spoken on comprised solely of D/deaf and hearing-impaired people. The insight provided by the panel and the lived experience they shared with us was deeply thought-provoking, and helped members overwhelmingly vote through an excellent policy on D/deaf inclusive education.
I’m also continually blown away by the phenomenal power of the youth movement within the Greens.
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Young people have always been at the very heart of the climate and environmental movement – after all, it’s us and future generations that’ll suffer the most drastic effects of climate breakdown – and the Scottish Green Party are no exception.
Young people truly are at the heart of the party.
More than half of the members of the party’s national executive committee are aged 30 or under, including both its co-chairs, and those aged 30 and under make up a significant number of our elected representatives – particularly on Glasgow City Council where 70% of Scottish Green Party councillors were 30 or under at the time of their first election. In 2016, 21-year-old Ross Greer became Scotland’s youngest-ever MSP.
Our passionate young membership, combined with our member-led approach to democracy, has also resulted in real change for the young people of Scotland.
It was the Scottish Young Greens who first introduced the policy of free bus travel for young people to our party conference, and thanks to the campaigning efforts of young people both within and outwith the party, this policy is now a reality.
The youthful nature of our party’s members and elected representatives often leaves us subjected to nonsense, ageist abuse on social media, with the most common allegation being that our young members “lack experience”, but just a single moment spent in our conference hall or paying attention to the work of our young representatives would prove that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Whether it’s the lived experience of working in hospitality under terrible conditions and struggling to pay the rent; of living with an eating disorder; of being a college student during record underfunding and industrial action; of experiencing the torture of behaviour modification practices and conversion therapy; or any one of the huge range of experiences faced by the young members who have spoken and shared their stories at recent Scottish Greens conferences, these contributions have played a critical role in giving a voice to so many who are currently so under-represented in wider politics.
The average age of MPs and MSPs at the time of election has been consistently around 50 for the past couple of decades, while for local councillors across the UK this has been around 60.
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In 2022, the proportion of UK councillors aged 65 and over was 42.2%, but just 15.7% were under the age of 45.
Young people need and deserve representation too, and I’m proud of the Scottish Greens for delivering this. That’s not in any way to disparage the work of our brilliant older members either, but the under-representation of young people in politics simply has to end, and I’m proud that it’s the Greens who are leading the way.
We’re often told that young people are the future, or that we’re the leaders of tomorrow, and while I don’t disagree with this well-intentioned sentiment, I think it slightly undersells the power of the youth movement. As young people, we’re not just the future – we’re the present.
We’re not just the leaders of tomorrow – we’re the leaders of today.
From the school strikers in Fridays for Future and their leadership and expertise in fighting against the climate emergency, to the long, proud history of the student movement in speaking out and winning against injustice and inequality, young people have always been leaders in society, even if we don’t always have the political representation we deserve.
So, as I reflect on the past few days at conference, I continue to be proud of my party, our approach to member-led democracy and our empowerment of young and diverse voices.
Young people really are leading the way towards a fairer, greener Scotland.
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