THE Scottish Greens have been accused of “actively working against” the independence cause by fighting the SNP in a dozen constituencies at the Holyrood election and potentially helping Unionist candidates win.
The claim came from Alex Salmond's pro-independence Alba Party, which has urged its supporters to vote SNP in constituencies and Alba on the regional list in order to maximise the number of pro-independence MSPs.
Senior Alba candidate Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, a former SNP MP, also suggested the Greens were not being honest with voters and taking them for “fools”.
Although they have yet to come close to doing it, the Scottish Greens have long hoped to win a constituency in Scotland, emulating the success of Green MP Caroline Lucas, who has held the Brighton Pavilion seat at Westminster since 2010.
As well as standing on the eight regional lists, where they have won all their MSPs since 1999, the Scottish Greens are also contesting 12 first-past-the-post seats this year.
At the 2016 Scottish election, the Greens stood in just three constituencies - Coatbridge & Chryston, Edinburgh Central and Glasgow Kelvin.
In Coatbridge and Kelvin, the SNP candidate still won relatively easily.
However in Edinburgh Central, the Greens arguably help the Tories to victory.
Then Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson won with a majority of just 610 over the SNP after Green candidate Alison Johnstone polled 4,644 votes.
READ MORE: Tom Gordon - Something doesn't smell right about the Alba Party
This year, Ms Johnstone is again standing in Edinburgh Central, while Green Laura Moodie is standing in marginal Galloway & West Dumfries, where Tory incumbent Finlay Carson is defending a majority of 1,514 over the SNP.
The Greens are also standing in three other seats where the SNP majority over Labour in 2016 was under 5,000 - Aberdeen Central, Cowdeneath and Glasgow Provan.
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie is also standing again in Glasgow Kelvin, where he came 4,048 behind the SNP winner in 2016, although that is effectively a fight between two Yes candidates.
Ms Ahmed-Sheikh, Alba’s top-ranked candidate on the Central Scotland list, told the recent Through a Scottish Prism podcast that it would be “remiss” of her not to raise the Green issue.
She said: “The Green candidates standing in this election are not helping the cause of independence when they stand against the SNP MSP candidates in the constituencies.
“It’s all very well for members of the Scottish Greens to cast us aside as an irrelevance and not necessary [because] they’ll secure the independence majority.
“They’re actively working against that by standing against SNP candidates in constituency seats the SNP would definitely win but for, perhaps, votes that will be lost to the Green party.
“So at the very least, in this election, I think political parties should speak with some honesty about what the maths actually mean, and what the votes actually mean.
“Because the people of Scotland don’t button up the back or from any other direction. They understand what’s going on. People should not try and make fools of the voting public.”
Ms Ahmed-Sheikh seized on the Edinburgh Central result of 2016 as an example of Greens inadvertently helping a Unionist candidate win.
She said: “What a triumph that was for the independence movement, securing the election of Baroness Ruth Davidson. That speaks for itself. All the maths is there.”
READ MORE: Patrick Harvie raises Prince Philip's 'extreme wealth and privilege' at Holyrood tribute
A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “We’ve shown a vote for the Scottish Greens delivers progressive policies such as a ban on evictions during the pandemic, free bus travel for young people and free school dinners for all primary school children.
“We’ve shown a vote for the Scottish Greens delivers a pro-independence majority. And a vote for the Scottish Greens delivers urgent action on the climate emergency.
“Alba might want to get a record of delivery and some policies before claiming to understand the voting public.”
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