Alison Johnstone

Alison Johnstone has represented Lothian region since 2011 and was an Edinburgh city councillor between 2007 and 2012. Alison is from Edinburgh and lives in the south west of the city. A former East of Scotland 800m and 1500m title holder, Alison is a qualified athletics coach and Board member of Scottish Athletics. She continues to campaign to preserve precious green space, for investment in walking and cycling and for access to sport for all. She led the Fans First campaign to win football fans the right to buy their clubs; led the fight against fracking by proposing a ban in 2014 when all other parties supported it; and persuaded ministers to make energy efficient housing a national infrastructure priority. Since 2016 her advocacy for a compassionate social security system has led to benefit sanctions not being applied to devolved employment schemes and boosted family incomes by securing a roll out of the Healthier, Wealthier Children programme. She secured an amendment to the Social Security Act to ensure that unnecessary face-to-face assessments will not be required to access disability benefits when these are devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Alison is also bringing forward legislation to introduce a real ban on fox hunting and protect Scotland's hares.

Alison Johnstone was elected Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, a non party political role, in 2021.

Greens: Abused women must be able to access help

Thu 26 Nov, 2020

Scottish Greens health spokesperson Alison Johnstone has supported calls for all health services to be able to respond to and support women suffering from domestic violence, after the UN called violence against women the

Greens hail routine testing of healthcare workers

Wed 25 Nov, 2020

Moves to regularly test all public facing healthcare workers in Scotland has been welcomed by the Scottish Greens.

Greens call for evidence after Christmas warnings from experts

Wed 25 Nov, 2020

The Scottish Greens have reiterated the call for Nicola Sturgeon to publish the risk assessments associated with lifting restrictions over Christmas, after a number of experts have raised concerns about the decision.

The BMA has warned that plans to remove social distancing for three families together and removing travel restrictions for five days over Christmas will “almost certainly” lead to a rise in the infection rate.

Both UK and Scottish Government advisors have also commented.

Scottish Government must reveal cost of Christmas easing

Tue 24 Nov, 2020

The Scottish Government must publish its assessment of the human cost in preparing to relax restrictions around Christmas, the Scottish Greens have said.

As the First Minister announced the latest local tiers across Scotland, Scottish Greens health spokesperson Alison Johnstone pointed to the fact that figures show positive cases are still well above the World Health Organisation’s threshold of five per cent.

Confusingly, the First Minister responded by suggesting she would advise people to stick with restrictions even when she lifts them for Christmas.

Scottish Greens response to suicide statistics

Tue 24 Nov, 2020

Commenting on new statistics revealing that there were 833 probable suicides registered in Scotland in 2019, which is an increase from 784 in 2018, Scottish Greens health spokesperson Alison Johnstone MSP said:

More support needed for people to self-isolate

Thu 19 Nov, 2020

Low compliance rates show more support is needed for those who lack resources or space to self-isolate, the Scottish Greens have said.

At FMQS the First Minister could not say whether promised access to hotel rooms for people self-isolating has happened.

Scotland surpasses 5000 coronavirus deaths

Wed 18 Nov, 2020

Commenting on figures published by NRS, showing that 5,135 coronavirus deaths have been registered in Scotland, Scottish Greens health spokesperson Alison Johnstone MSP said:

Scottish Government warned against complacency on testing

Tue 17 Nov, 2020

The Scottish Government must get on with regular asymptomatic testing for front line staff, the Scottish Greens have said, after the First Minister announced that next week we will see “options for extending testing to other groups of key workers”.

Responding to the First Minister’s statement on the new lockdown tiers and plans for testing, Scottish Greens health spokesperson Alison Johnstone said: “The time for exploring options on COVID testing is long past, we need action. If we had seen this earlier, we might not have needed a ramp up on restrictions, including on travel.

Greens: More clarity needed on student testing plans

Wed 11 Nov, 2020

Responding to the Scottish Government’s five point plan for student testing, Scottish Green health spokesperson Alison Johnstone said:

“I have consistently called for Scotland to show much more ambition on asymptomatic testing, so I welcome this move in the right direction on students.

“However, I’m concerned that the minister couldn’t commit to the same robust testing when students return in January. We don’t want to see the same mess of students being locked in halls again in the new year. Testing can’t be a one-off initiative, it needs to be an ongoing commitment.

Govt must come clean on track and trace errors

Wed 11 Nov, 2020

The Scottish Government must reveal the impact of errors in the track and trace system which saw around half of cases fail to be interviewed within 24 hours of being notified.

Reports show Pubic Health Scotland reporting contained errors which suggested contact tracing was happening better than it actually was. [1]

In some examples, actual rates were around five times worse than reported.

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