Scottish Greens confirm new co-leaders after membership ballot

THE Scottish Greens have announced their new co-leaders following a ballot of the party membership.

Gillian Mackay and Ross Greer were confirmed as the two who will lead the party into the 2026 Holyrood elections.

Lorna Slater and Dominic Ashmole were the two defeated candidates.

Gillian Mackay and Ross Greer after being elected the new co-leaders of the Scottish Greens (Image: Getty Images) A total of 951 ballots were cast in the contest, with one being spoiled. That represented 12.7% of the electorate, suggesting the party has around 7500 members.

Of the remaining 950 ballots, Mackay received 322 first-preference votes and was elected in the first round.

Also in the first round of voting, Ashmole got 66 votes, Slater 264, and Greer 298.

At the second round, Ashmole was eliminated. Slater's vote total then hit 304, while Greer reached 317 and was elected.

The Greens automatically hold a leadership race every two years. However, this was the first which has truly been contested since Slater was elected alongside Patrick Harvie in 2019.

The pair were returned unopposed in 2021 and 2023, but Harvie's decision to step back from the top role in April opened up the 2025 contest.

After being confirmed as a new co-leader, Mackay said the results represented a "generational change" in the Scottish Greens.

She went on: "I've said throughout my campaign that we need to speak to those communities who feel ignored. That means being visible in post-industrial, rural and industrial towns and cities across Scotland, talking to them plainly about how doing politics can make their lives better."

Mackay, who has an eight-week-old baby, added: "For many, the cost of living crisis is still taking its toll, but the focus from our governments and media continue to distract from the real issues facing working people.

"As a disabled woman and a new mum, we're starting to find out the struggles that families face, that's why I will champion a four-day week, better parental pay, and basic universal income – policies that will transform lives."

(Image: Scottish Greens)Greer (above) said he was happy to lead the party alongside his "friend" Mackay and that the two had "spent a long time talking about what we would do" if they were in charge.

He added that those ideas would now be put through a "stress test".

Greer further said the Greens would be a party "brave enough to take on the rich and powerful, to take on these elites who hoard more wealth than they could spend in 1000 lifetimes, and to deliver the change that people need to see, changes like universal free bus travel, protecting tenants from greedy landlords, protecting workers from exploitative bosses".

"We certainly won't be dismissing that public anger or pretending that there are any quick fixes when that isn't the case, but we will take on the bigots and the con men directing that anger at the most vulnerable people in our society.

"Trans people and asylum seekers didn't sell off community centres, didn't privatise the bus network or bail out the banks rather than the public."

First Minister John Swinney congratulated Greer and Mackay on their election, saying: "I look forward to co-operating with them in serving the people of Scotland."