Back in March the bloggers over at Better Nation launched a petition to include the Co-convenor of the Scottish Green Party in the televised debates during the Scottish Parliament elections currently being held. I was against the idea.
Not because the petition calls Patrick Harvie to be included (and thus excluding his Co-convenor Eleanor Scott from taking part). No, I was against the idea because I felt that as a Regional List only party, the Scottish Green Party were not seeking the same thing as the other party leaders, namely to become First Minister. Now, I know that it is exceptionally unlikely that Tavish Scott or Annabel Goldie will become leaders of the biggest party in the Scottish Parliament. But they were trying to be. Patrick Harvie is not.
This stance is exactly the same one that I used when Alex Salmond was complaining about being excluded from the televised debates in the 2010 General Election. He wasn’t even standing to become a Member of Parliament and, obviously, was only putting forward candidates in Scotland so could not form the next Government. Therefore Alex Salmond could not have been the next Prime Minister and that is the same logic I applied to the televised debates in Scotland.
This position didn’t go down well and prompted a debate with all three authors on the site. An extensive debate.
Disappointingly I was accused by two of them that I was opposing the participation of Patrick Harvie due to the closeness of the Lib Dems and the Greens in the polls. This, despite trying to explain what I felt the debates were for – who wants to be the next leader of Scotland.
I even noted that it was only in the 2007 election that the Scottish Parliament election lost the SSP representation that had been there since 1999, thanks to the Regional List system, so why didn’t the petition also ask for them to be there? I even reminded them that in the 2003 election a number of small parties gained representation via the the Regional List system and that including in the Scottish Green Party in the debates might lift them to a very dominant position as a List only party, to the potential exclusion of the other parties that got elected in 2003. That wasn’t accepted either. I even suggested a separate debate for the Regional List parties which didn’t go down well either.
The debate even got to the point that I was highlighting questions Patrick Harive will be asked that dont apply to the other party leaders – like who are you [Patrick Harvie] going to vote for as your constituency MSP, given that you are not standing there? That was shot down in flames with the line – “DO you really think the public are that interested in who PH is voting for? Really?” Well I have to say that Patrick Harvie has been asked that question by interviewers such as Bernard Ponsonby and Kaye Adams. So its not just me that thought of that question.
Anyway, I didn’t sign the petition. And I wasn’t going to until the Scottish Green Party Manifesto was launched at it contained something I wasn’t expecting. They want to raise taxes on all earners. Even those earning as little as £8000 a year. Now, I knew that the Greens wanted to raise more taxes via more taxes on large businesses and valuable land via a Land Value Tax. But putting up taxes on low earners is something that wasn’t explicitly mentioned previously and isn’t mentioned in its election communications. I have the South Scotland Region election leaflet from the Scottish Green Party and all it says about tax is “fair taxes on the better off and big business”. Thats it. Now, no matter how you look at it, a person earning £8,000 is not someone I could describe as better off. Either that decision to raise everyones taxes was made very late or it was a conscious decision to omit it from the election communications. Either way, it is not a good thing.
Furthermore, the polls are looking good for the Scottish Green Party and they have made a number of announcements about become potential coalition partners to whomever forms the next Scottish Government. It is possible that a party that wants to raise taxes will help form the next Scottish Government. I want that policy examined in a televised debate and I want to see what the other Scottish party leaders think of the policy. To be fair to the Scottish Green Party that is exactly what they have wanted as well.
In recent days there have also been some gaps highlighted in the Scottish Green Party LVT Policy and its effects on students, older people with low incomes and even the unemployed are not easily explainable by Patrick Harvie himself.
I will be going to the next leaders debate in Perth next Sunday. I want to ask a question. And I want Patrick Harvie to be there to answer it. So I have signed the petition and ask that whoever reads this blog to do so as well.