Scottish Greens look to cause upset at the 2026 Holyrood election

Under new leaders Gillian Mackay and Ross Greer, the party is predicted to gain on its 2021 result, and activists are hoping to pick up their first ever constituency seat.

They are hoping to do this by unseating Culture Secretary Angus Robertson in Edinburgh Central. They are also hoping for success in Glasgow, predicting a win in Glasgow Southside and picking up three regional seats in the city.

“We are quietly confident,” Ms Mackay told The Scotsman. “Polls are a snapshot in time and while they’re really good, we have to get out there and inspire more people to vote Green.

“There are a lot of people across the country who are just pretty scunnered with politics in general but we have a good track record from this session, from free bus travel for under 22s, scrapping peak rail fares, feeding more kids, and introducing safe access zones.

“We can demonstrate that we’ve made Scotland a better place and we have a plan to keep doing that.

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“But we never take anything for granted.”

So far, the Scottish Greens have never won a constituency seat at Holyrood, but they are hoping that will change in 2026. They are currently standing in six constituencies and are hoping to win at least two.

Ms Mackay said: “The one to really watch for us is Edinburgh Central with Lorna Slater.

“Based on the 2022 council election results, we would come first in that constituency, so it’s certainly a target for us and it would be great to get Lorna in there as our first constituency MSP.

“It’s up to Angus Robertson to inspire people within that constituency that he’s a better representative for it than Lorna is, but I don’t think he is.

“We also want to make sure every region in Scotland has a Green MSP - we don’t currently have a South Scotland MSP.

“In Glasgow we are working really hard to make sure we get Patrick Harvie, Holly Bruce and Iris Duane elected, because we think we could get all three.

“We might also get a second MSP in the Highlands and Islands or in Mid Scotland and Fife.

“We always shoot for the stars and if we fall short we’re still aiming for the moon.”

The other constituency the party has their eye on is Glasgow Southside, the area currently represented by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP is hoping Equalities Minister Kaukab Stewart can win this seat in May, but Green candidate Holly Bruce is confident she can pull off a win.

She told The Scotsman: “It’s going to be a close call, but we think we can win it.

“I’m not sure you could even call it an upset because the Greens are growing in the southside. We have four green councillors, we’ve been campaigning here for a very, very long time, and there is an appetite for a Green MSP.”

Ms Bruce, who is currently a councillor at Glasgow City Council, already has plans for what policies she wants to focus on if she becomes an MSP in May.

She said: “I’m doing a lot of work in Glasgow on violence against women and girls and gender equality.

“I’ve spearheaded the idea of feminist town planning, because I want to see a shift in focus onto women to make our communities safer and more accessible.

“I’m also a big advocate for trans rights, especially in Glasgow where there are long waiting times for gender-affirming care which is not good enough.”

For this election, the party is returning to traditional election strategies, and will be focusing on door-knocking and getting out into communities to try and convince voters to back them.

Ms Mackay said: “The most effective way we can reach voters this time around, given how scunnered everybody is, is those conversations on the doorsteps.

“We want people to hear, not necessarily from politicians, but from folk like themselves and why they support a particular party and think others should vote for that party.

“We have some fantastic stories from our activists about what being a member of the party means for them and what delivering on green policies means for people’s lives as well.

“That’s one of the strongest ways we can get to folk who are disappointed in politics.”

The Green co-leader also hinted the party would be open to working with the SNP in the future as well.

After the 2021 election, the Scottish Greens signed the Bute House Agreement with former first minister Nicola Sturgeon. This gave the former party leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater government jobs and started a co-operation partnership between the two pro-independence parties.

However this was then scrapped by her successor Humza Yousaf, ultimately kicking off his downfall as SNP leader.

Ms Mackay said: “We’ve shown that we can deliver either in government or in opposition.

“I think if there was to be a deal coming forward, it would have to be the right one for us.

“There’s been a lot of backtracking that’s happened on the things we did in government and there’s a lot of trust that would have to be rebuilt.

“But we’re focused on delivering as many Green MSPs as possible and delivering on those promises that we’re standing on in this election - we’re focused on the campaign.”

The Scottish Greens’ spring conference takes place at Strathclyde University on Saturday.