Glasgow going ‘Greener’ as Record Number of Green Councillors Elected

By Niall Houston

9 May 2022

‘(The Scottish Greens keep winning seats. Photograph: Flickr)

A historic result for the Scottish Green Party in Glasgow’s local elections as they secured 10 council seats on Friday 6^th of May.

After a long-fought campaign, the Green Party now has a significantly larger number of councillors sitting in the Glasgow council chambers than they have ever had in previous years.

It was not only Glasgow that saw a rise in candidates being elected. Throughout the country, the Scottish Greens saw 35 councillors elected across 13 local authorities.

The party has increased the size of its groups in Edinburgh and Glasgow, with both cities electing ten green councillors, while there are now four Greens on the Highland Council.

Glasgow city council leader, SNP’s Susan Aitken, was re-elected with 2,899 votes. But it was the Greens new candidate, Holly Bruce, who gained the top preference vote with 3,173 votes.  

Co-leader’s Jon Molyneux and Martha Wardrop were both re-elected representing Pollokshields and Hillhead respectively.

Leodhas Massie was elected in Newlands/Auldburn, Dan Hutchison in Govan, Christy Mearns in Anderston/City/Yorkhill, Lana Reid-McConnell in Victoria Park, Anthony Carroll in Dennistoun and Blair Anderson in Partick East/Kelvindale.

Not only were the results ground-breaking for the Greens, but party candidate, Elaine Gallagher, also made history by becoming Glasgow’s first transgender councillor.

Jon Molyneux, speaking about the results, said: “When areas have a Greens councillor, they notice a difference. We have got a lot to do, our manifesto was a real collaborative effort, something I’m immensely proud of.”

Leader of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie, said: “Throughout this campaign we asked the public to Think Global, Act Local and vote for their Scottish Green Party candidate and this result shows that message has reached more people than ever before.”

In Glasgow, the party will aim to improve local green spaces, promote local food growing, securing more free public transport schemes and improving cycle lanes throughout the city.

The Greens are also represented in Moray, Stirling, South Lanarkshire, Shetland, Borders, Orkney, North Lanarkshire, East Lothian, Clackmannanshire, and Argyll and Bute.