Scottish Greens call on Swinney to stop 'swithering' on oil and gas

Scottish Greens call on Swinney to stop 'swithering' on oil and gas Image caption, Gillian Mackay urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to stop production at Rosebank from going ahead Published 4 hours ago The leaders of the Scottish Green Party have condemned the UK and Scottish government's positions on new oil and gas drilling. Speaking at the party's conference in Inverness, co-leader Gillian Mackay criticised Prime Minister Andy Burnham for approving production at the Jackdaw gas field and accused John Swinney of "years of swithering". Ross Greer, the other party leader, said Scotland had bragging rights to the "most successful Green party in the world" by homing in on "what people need to hear". He used his platform to announce a new tax on flights to pay for a "millennial railcard" that would allow people in their 30s and 40s to get a third off train fares. During her keynote speech, Mackay said she was adding Andy Burnham to her "ever-growing eejit list" after the approval of production at the Jackdaw gas field while also warning of flood risks. She urged his government to stop production at Rosebank from going ahead. Directing comments to First Minister John Swinney, she called on him to "put people and planet before money-hungry corporations" and "oppose Rosebank too". "Are they going back to being the pro-oil party of the past? The first person to welcome Jackdaw was Donald Trump - do they really want to fall in line behind that tangerine eejit?" Image source, Craig Allardyce Image caption, Plan for a golf course at Coul were blocked by government ministers after a local campaign, supported by the Greens Referring to her party's record in Holyrood and local government, Mackay said: "Voting Green means real change happens". She took credit for the party stopping the golf course at Coul Links in Sutherland and mobilising communities fighting "energy vampires" of big tech seeking to build data centres. MacKay also said Green MSPs were stopping all the "Reform eejits running amok in our parliament". Greer was keen to highlight the party's recent successes at the polls. "We have major bragging rights within the global Green movement: as of today, we are the most successful Green party in the world," he said, noting that they could be overtaken by an election happening in British Columbia, Canada. He said their election campaign was successful because they "honed in on exactly what it was they need to hear from us." "We convinced people that we would save them money, we would make their lives easier and that we would take seriously the biggest crisis of our times - the climate crisis," he said. "And he result - we doubled our number of our seats in parliament and we won our first two constituencies in Glasgow Southside and Edinburgh Central." But he said the overall result would have been very different if just 0.1% voters nationwide had chosen his party - giving them 10 MSPs instead of 15 - and he thanked members for their efforts during the election campaign. "If just 2,300 votes had been cast differently across the country, we would have had fewer MSPs than the Tories and Reform would have been by far the largest of the opposition parties," he said. Frequent flyer tax 'to help Millennials' Greer praised his party's role in recent Scottish government policies, including the mansion tax, incoming tax on private jet flights and the £2 bus fare. He then pledged to expanded the £2 bus fares across the country by next year as the Greens' "next step" towards universal free bus travel on a publicly owned network. The party co-leader then proposed a new tax on flights to pay for a "Millennial railcard" that would allow people in their 30s and 40s to get a third off train fares. "We are proposing a Frequent Flyer Levy for those who get the plane like the rest of us get the bus," he said. "Regular business flights within the UK are literally fuelling climate breakdown. They should be paying far more than families going on holiday once a year." Image caption, Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay celebrated the party's success in the Holyrood elction Greer called for reform to local authorities, and offered a "simple" message to the government and the first minister: "You cannot fix Scotland's councils unless you fix the council tax. "This is a tax that is older than Gillian or I, that hasn't been in-date in our lifetimes - the other party leaders hate when we bring that up." He said the system meant the poorest pay "far more than they should" and the richest "get off with an absolute steal". Greer said the party would not support government plans to reorganise councils "unless they are willing to work with us now to scrap and replace the council tax". He said a "better future" was possible in Scotland where "radical steps" are taken to tackle the climate emergency, end the cost of living crisis, end racism, end genocide in Palestine and make sure the "gift of this Earth's abundance" is shared. But he said it could not be solved under capitalism nor neoliberalism and instead offered the power of the "Green movement" that is a "real threat" to oil companies, arms dealers, tech billionaires and racists. Young people targeted in local elections Greer called for more taxation for rich residents. While independence was required for a "proper national wealth tax", he said, Scotland should exhaust "existing powers to tax wealth we've got in the forms of land and properties". "We need to win more power at a local level where most of those tax powers actually sit," he added. Greer expressed hopes for gains at the local elections next May in areas the Greens had never represented and to win Edinburgh council "outright" by posting letters to every young person in the areas the party was targeting, urging members to donate the £10 needed to "write to 60 young people in a target ward". Mackay also urged more women to stand for office. "It's not easy, sometimes it's awful, but we deliver incredible things for communities up and down the country," she said. "If I can do this, any of you can too." Related topics Scotland Scottish Greens John Swinney More on this story Burnham defends Jackdaw decision as Badenoch urges PM to overturn ban on new oil and gas licences Published 3 days ago How much gas could Jackdaw provide? And will it cut your energy bills? Published 3 days ago I will make final decision on Rosebank oil field, energy secretary insists Published 2 days ago