Scottish Greens

The Scottish Green Party is contesting the 2026 Holyrood election as a party of opposition after ending its government partnership with the SNP. Co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater led the party into the Bute House Agreement in 2021, entering government as junior Coalition partners for the first time in Scottish history. The agreement collapsed in April 2024. The party published its 89-page manifesto on 14 April 2026 in Glasgow, co-launched by MSPs Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay. Headline policies include free bus travel for all, no new North Sea oil and gas licences, 40,000 green energy jobs, a Scottish wealth tax, and levies on landlords, supermarkets, gambling firms and private schools.

The Scottish Greens hold seven seats in the current Holyrood Parliament, all on regional lists, elected under the Additional Member System. The party operates independently of the Green Party of England and Wales, though both share policy alignment on climate and social justice. Under the Bute House Agreement the party had two government ministers, including Harvie (for zero-carbon buildings) and Slater (for the circular economy). The agreement broke down over the SNP's decision not to meet its climate targets under the Climate Change Act.

The IFS five-party sweep of April 2026 found the Scottish Greens, like every other Holyrood party, unable to fully fund their manifesto commitments. Harvie publicly acknowledged this, saying the concept of a fully funded manifesto is misleading. Electoral Calculus projects the party to retain regional-list seats but not replicate its 2021 Coalition position.