Vote Green to protect public services & put power in your hands
Maggie Chapman, Co-convener of the Scottish Greens, will today (11 March) open the party's Spring Conference in Glasgow with a prediction that more Green councillors elected in May will mean power for communities to protect local services and renew local democracy.
The Scottish Greens are fielding a record 200+ candidates for the local council elections on 4 May, aiming to build on councillor groups in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Aberdeenshire and Midlothian, and secure their first councillors in most other local authorities.
Opening today's conference, Maggie Chapman is expected to say:
"In just 54 days, communities all over Scotland will go to the polls to elect the people who will run their Councils, making decisions about their health and social care, education, their cultural facilities, their housing and green spaces, and so much more. Our local democracy is in desperate need of renewal, and Green councillors will be champions for change and the voices for renewal that our Councils need to support caring and creating communities across Scotland.
"We are working towards our biggest ever local authority election campaign, where we want to convert the success of becoming the fourth largest party in the Scottish Parliament last year to having more Greens elected across Scotland than have ever been elected in our party’s history.
"I had the huge privilege of representing the people of Leith Walk in Edinburgh, and the Greens, as one of our first ever councillors, for 8 years. It is so important that more people across Scotland have a Green to stand up and fight for them in their local wards.
"We are the only party in Scotland that seems to be taking these elections seriously as local council elections: where local people get to decide what happens in their local areas. Council elections are about deciding how our social care services are delivered, how our schools function, how our parks and green spaces are maintained, how we treat our homeless people.
"These are the issues we need to be focussed on in the coming 8 weeks: we want people to vote Green to create vibrant local economies, to protect our public services, and to put power back in people’s hands."