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Patrick Harvie: Holyrood needs more Green MSPs to challenge SNP Patrick Harvie: Holyrood needs more Green MSPs to challenge SNP
(about 13 hours later)
More Scottish Green voices are needed at Holyrood to push the SNP government "beyond its comfort zone", the party's co-convener will say later. More Scottish Green voices are needed at Holyrood to push the SNP government "beyond its comfort zone", the party's co-convener has said.
Patrick Harvie will tell the party's pre-election conference that a Green MSP in all eight parliamentary regions would see "better, bolder" opposition. Patrick Harvie told the party's pre-election conference that a Green MSP in all eight parliamentary regions would see "better, bolder" opposition.
The Greens currently have two MSPs plus two Green-supporting Independents.The Greens currently have two MSPs plus two Green-supporting Independents.
All their election candidates will address the conference in Edinburgh on Saturday and Sunday.All their election candidates will address the conference in Edinburgh on Saturday and Sunday.
Speaking two months before the 5 May general election, Mr Harvie will tell delegates that the SNP's record in government proved that "a better Scotland needs a bolder Holyrood". Speaking two months before the 5 May general election, Mr Harvie told delegates that the SNP's record in government proved that "a better Scotland needs a bolder Holyrood".
He will say: "Ahead in the polls and with nine years' experience in government, they still seem set to make only the most timid of changes to the local tax system. They need to be pushed. He said: "Ahead in the polls and with nine years' experience in government, they still seem set to make only the most timid of changes to the local tax system. They need to be pushed.
"Labour and the Lib Dems aren't doing much better - how can we leave it to them to hold the SNP to account on an issue like fracking when they seem to swap policies on it by the week? Holyrood needs better, bolder, more coherent opposition than that.""Labour and the Lib Dems aren't doing much better - how can we leave it to them to hold the SNP to account on an issue like fracking when they seem to swap policies on it by the week? Holyrood needs better, bolder, more coherent opposition than that."
'Distinctive platform'
Mr Harvie has urged pro-independence Scots to elect "constructive" critics of the Scottish government rather than more SNP "cheerleaders".Mr Harvie has urged pro-independence Scots to elect "constructive" critics of the Scottish government rather than more SNP "cheerleaders".
He rejected a suggestion that his party's criticism of the SNP would be curtailed by their shared desire for Scottish independence. 'Fairer system'
Mr Harvie told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday: "I'm sure the Labour Party wouldn't feel that they are curtailed in their ability to hold the Conservative government to account because they were on the same side in the independence debate. The party's other co-convener, Maggie Chapman, also criticised the SNP's "refusal to grasp the thistle of local taxation" by scrapping the council tax, in her speech to delegates.
"This is an election. It's not a binary choice about whether you support independence or not. The Scottish government announced plans this week to end the council tax freeze in 2017 and proposed that the four highest bands should pay more from next year.
"I think many independence supporters saw during the referendum campaign a distinctive platform for the Greens that they found attractive, and many people who weren't yet convinced by independence but might one day clearly need to hear something more than what the SNP had to offer." But Ms Chapman said the plans did not go far enough.
She told conference delegates in Edinburgh: "Greens demand that Holyrood be bolder.
"Greens demand a new fairer system of local taxation capable of raising the money our public services and our communities desperately need."
She added: "The failure to confront this problem is what makes it so hard for the Scottish Parliament to block Westminster's austerity."