The Green Party is on the rise in England: But what about Scotland?

The Green Party has seen a surge in popularity, thanks to its new leader – Zack Polanski, who achieved a landslide victory in the Greens' leadership election in September this year. According to the latest YouGov poll, the Green Party almost doubled their potential vote share since Polanski became the party leader. There is only one party in British politics with such phenomenal popularity growth – Farage’s Reform UK, which is undoubtedly Green party’s main rival.

The current membership count of Green Party has surged to over 170,000 members and continues to grow, breathing down the necks of legacy parties and even the poll’s leader, Reform UK.

The secret of such popularity, especially among Gen Z, is the new approach of party leader, Zack Polanski, shifting the main goal of Green Party from climate justice, to social justice.

He launched a political broadcast at the beginning of October, called 'Let’s Make Hope Normal Again', where he outlined his plans for the green movement. He appealed to the feeling of hopelessness throughout the country:

“People who are too tired to fight, too tired to sleep. Kids going to bed hungry. Parents lying awake in the next room knowing, powerless to change things”.

His messages are resonating not only among people in England but throughout the UK.

His policies include a wealth tax, as in his opinion it will help to run NHS, reduce inequality and introduce free universal childcare. On foreign policy, Polanski proposed to leave NATO, primarily due to US president Donald Trump. He wants a new European alliance focused on peace, diplomacy and democracy. The new leader of Green party is also supporter of nuclear disarmament, as he controversially proposed that the UK should destroy its nuclear arsenal and “ask Vladimir Putin to do the same”. 

But with the success of Green party in England here is the question: will the Scottish Greens able to repeat such success in Scotland? In the first instance, the green movement in the UK were united in one party – the Green party of UK or Ecology party. However, they separated in 1990, creating 3 branches across the nation. They were closely associated with close ties between parties.

The split occurred in 2022, when the Scottish Greens, under the leadership of Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, voted to suspend ties with the Green party of England and Wales due to concerns over LGBTQ+ issues, with the Scottish Greens accusing their Westminster party of “transphobic rhetoric and conduct”.

In October 2025, the leadership of the Scottish Greens announced their intention to restore ties with their English counterparts.

In an exclusive interview, The Edinburgh Economist team discussed with Maggie Chapman MSP, the Scottish Green Party’s prospects for the 2026 Holyrood elections: