The Scottish Greens are hopeful of securing a first-ever MEP after a boost from a strong showing in the Leith Walk by-election.
The Greens’ candidate Lorna Slater won 25.5% of first preference votes – up nearly 6% from 2017 – and only narrowly missed out on winning the seat in the final round run-off by 256 votes, with 784 votes not transferring. By contrast, Labour’s vote share went down by 7% and the Conservatives’ by 3.7%.
Green activists will now head out campaigning for European elections on a high ahead of announcing their candidates on 25th April.
Scottish Green Party co-convenor Patrick Harvie said: “The result in Leith Walk is a tremendous lift for Greens ahead of European elections and huge credit goes to the brilliant Lorna Slater who ran a superb campaign.
“It’s clear that there’s strong support for our inspiring vision for rebuilding democracy, locally and across Europe, so that we can tackle the climate crisis, lift people out of poverty and create a welcoming society which rejects far-right populism.
“At the last European elections Greens narrowly missed out on our first Scottish MEP to an extremist UKIP candidate whose campaign was flooded with cash and who was given a hugely disproportionate media platform. By making the positive case for Scotland’s place in Europe we’re determined that won’t happen again.”
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