ONLY the Greens are willing to take bold action on securing a better future, the Scottish party’s co-leader told their conference yesterday.
Alison Johnstone closed the spring conference in Edinburgh with a speech on Brexit, climate change and Scotland’s future for younger generations.
Commenting on a promise made during the 2014 independence referendum campaign, Johnstone hit out at the Scottish Conservative leader.
“In 2014 Ruth Davidson told people in Scotland that if they wanted to stay in the EU, they should vote no to independence,” she said.
“That went well.”
The Lothian MSP took aim at the Scottish Tories several times throughout the speech.
On the party’s performance in Holyrood she said: “How can it be the case that not a single Scottish Conservative has voiced their disquiet about the behaviour of their colleagues in Westminster?
“We are told that the majority of Scottish Conservatives, like the overwhelming majority of people in Scotland, like every local authority area in Scotland, voted to remain in the EU, yet not a peep. Not even in the face of the hardest of Brexits.
“I was going to say that I’m not surprised at their behaviour, but I am. Their behaviour has plumbed new depths. It’s now clear that they don’t care if livelihoods are lost, if ordinary people suffer as a result of their obsession.”
Johnstone also spoke on the Brexit chaos at Westminster, explaining she had “never seen anything like this” in her life.
Labour were also attacked in the speech, as Johnstone doubted the party’s socialist credentials were compatible with their Brexit stance.
She added: “Their initial response, the incredible ‘jobs-first Brexit’! To put it politely I am absolutely baffled by their behaviour.
“International socialists? International socialists don’t collude with the Tories to remove the right of citizens to freedom of movement within the EU. Voting to remove the rights of people to move, and to work.
“The so-called party of the worker.”
The MSP went on to talk about climate change in depth and repeated calls for a climate emergency to be declared at Holyrood: “Sadly it will come as no surprise to you that only we Greens voted for our motion on a climate emergency in Parliament.
“No-one else could support it because it called for a transition away from fossil fuels. If we do not move away from fossil fuels there will be no future, or at least not one that anyone would wish to experience.”
Johnstone concluded her speech by promising the Greens would work to make Scotland “the best country in the world to grow up in”.
Currently, the Scottish Greens – who are one of Scotland’s three independence-supporting parties – have six MSPs.
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