SCOTTISH GREENS CLOSE CONFERENCE WITH MORE THAN 7000 MEMBERS
Last night in Edinburgh Alison Johnstone MSP closed the Scottish Greens' biggest ever conference with an announcement that the party's membership has more than quadrupled in less than a month.
The party's total membership stood at 1,700 before the referendum, and with hundreds of new members joining during the party's conference, the total stood at over 7,000 as of last night.
Alison Johnstone said:
"What the last couple of years has shown is that, if we scratch just below the surface, if we give people powerful ideas, and if they can exercise their own democratic power, we find a Scotland full of passion and energy for the job of making a better society.
"My view is that our party, the Scottish Greens, had the clearest vision throughout the referendum campaign of what this better society should look like, and that’s because we had that vision all along. That's what's brought people to the Scottish Greens, as they told me all weekend: our message of environmental justice, our policies to challenge entrenched and growing poverty, and our vision of an economy that works for the many, not the few.
"For years I’ve heard party members say what we really need is more members, new talent, fresh energy, a more diverse membership. I’m delighted to say that is an excuse we can never use again.
"There has never been a Scottish Green Party conference like this, or even a Scottish Green Party like this. We're four times the size we were three weeks ago, more determined than ever to make a difference, and the surge in membership is still going on.
"This weekend was a constant buzz of energy, full of people fired up to continue the debate about this country's future, to elect more Greens and to help communities across the country build the kind of Scotland we dream about."