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The party’s co-leader appeared to suggest she was in touch with working-class Scots because she was from the town, just outside Falkirk
Scottish Green co-leader Gillian Mackay appeared to suggest she understood the needs of working class Scots – because she is from Grangemouth. The Central Scotland MSP hit back at claims the party is ‘too middle class’ during an episode of the Sunday Show.
Asked by host Gary Robertson if it was a “fair assessment” that the party was “talking to the middle class,” she responded: “I’ve said before, we do have a perception issue that we are quite middle class. But as someone who grew up in Grangemouth, I’m really keen that we speak to that wider part of Scotland.”
Ms Mackay was speaking the day after the Scottish Greens held their party conference in Glasgow. She added: “I said in my conference speech yesterday that we’ve got a lot of work to do in those areas that maybe haven’t seen us as much and we need to get that confidence of working-class Scotland that, actually, we will deliver good things for them.”
Located near Falkirk, Grangemouth has deprivation levels almost double that of the rest of the local council area. During Saturday’s conference, the Greens proposed new policies such as free bus travel for everyone in Scotland and expanded free childcare.
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However, the party provided no detail as to how it would pay for the pledges. Both Ms Mackay and her party co-leader Ross Greer could find themselves in a government role after the election.
The SNP is expected to win with a minority, meaning John Swinney will need some form of agreement to operate his government. The Greens were previously in government as part of the Bute House Agreement, with Ms Mackay and Mr Greer’s predecessors, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, handed junior ministerial roles.
Ms Mackay said any deal would “need to be right” for her party, but refused to rule out teaming up once more with their nationalist allies. During the tame interview, she falsely claimed a recent court case about the Deposit Return Scheme had suggested the UK Government was to blame for its collapse.
But she did not commit to bringing gender reform back to the table, saying: “There needs to be work done for trans people, they’ve been hugely demonised by the media and other political parties. It’s a small number of people who are scared to go out in their communities at the moment and they absolutely deserve support.”
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