Scottish Greens will refuse SNP pact if it means more North Sea drilling.
Co-leader Gillian Mackay answers your Scottish Election questions
Gillian Mackay says she’s confident the Scottish Greens can deliver an MSP for every region at the Holyrood election.
The party co-leader is telling us “13 would be a good result” for them and would put them in a stronger position in the next parliament:
“We have proven, in government or out of government, we can make change. Last session we pushed the SNP to go further and faster on a great many of issues and we’re there to do that again. We are there to actually get stuff done rather than just shout from the sidelines and be a protest group.”
WATCH: You ask the questions
Gillian Mackay faced questions on a range of issues from listeners across Scotland when she sat down with our Scottish Political Editor Alan Smith.
A return to Government?
The Scottish Greens had a stint in government alongside the SNP before they were dumped by former First Minister Humza Yousaf.
Gillian Mackay has already ruled out dealing with Reform and the Conservatives due to disagreements on human rights policy and says the Greens can’t work with any party in favour of more drilling in the North Sea.
So where does that leave a potential partnership with the SNP?
“The SNP has softened their stance on this, I hope they change their minds. I don’t see us being able to be in government with the SNP if that was something they were actively considering. But the First Minister does accept there is not the climate compatibility there and for us, that is the first hurdle these things should fall at.”
Twenty IS plenty
We also put your questions to the co-leader of the Scottish Greens including one from Lloyd in Fordyce who finds the “blanket bombing” Scotland with 20 mile per hour zones “most irritating”.
Responding, Gillian says “in a lot of these villages where there are A roads going through them, folk can really thunder through, so it’s making a difference to lives of folk in these small villages. It’s maybe the new mum in me, I keep coming back to the safety for kids crossing the road. If there’s a 20 mile per hour limit when they’re at school, why wouldn’t we want a 20 mile per hour limit when they are crossing the road more generally.”
No more exams?
The party co-leader also faced questions about her education pledges which include scrapping homework and axing exams for several subjects.
“Homework and exams both increase stress and don’t provide a lot of the outcomes we want them to. One bad day can ruin everything for kids
"I failed my Higher English the first-time round, I had a really bad day, ended up having to sit it again in S6 and had a huge amount of anxiety around that one exam. It shouldn’t be so stressful to be able to prove that you are good at a subject.”
Gillian Mackay also revealed she was a “solid emo-child” in the early 2000s, telling us her dream festival line up would include Green Day, Blink 182, Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy.
“I wasn’t fully emo enough to commit to dyeing my hair, so I was a blonde emo kid which doesn’t really fit. But if you’ve ever seen the amount of black I wear in parliament, it’s pretty well engrained now.”
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