The Green leader in England and Wales said he would back independence if he was Scottish – claiming Scotland had been “screwed over by Westminster governments”.
Zack Polanski added that a sense that “Scotland, has been screwed over by Westminster governments for a long time” was contributing to a so-called “Green surge” in politics north of the border.
This, along with a “toxic combination” of low wages and high prices amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis was also helping push up Green membership on both sides of the border, he said.
Mr Polanski likened the “eco-socialism” offered by both his party and Scottish Greens to the success of politicians such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani – a Democrat who was elected to the post in November last year.
He also revealed he would back Scottish independence if he were a voter north of the border, as he hit out at Wes Streeting after the UK Health Secretary made clear recently that the UK Government would refuse a second referendum, even if the SNP wins a majority at Holyrood next month.
“Who the hell does Wes Streeting think he is?” the Green said, accusing the Labour Health Secretary of treating Scots “like you were children”.
Mr Polanski insisted a fresh vote on the future of the United Kingdom should be allowed, as he told the audience: “If I was Scottish I would vote for independence.
“I would look at what this Government has done and how it has treated Scotland.”
He added that the UK Government “keeping” Scotland in the Union “against their own will, not to be able to have an independence referendum, is not good for Scotland”.
Mr Polanski continued: “We should make sure everyone has their right to decide the models of their country, and decide who and what their country is and how it is governed.”
His comments came as he spoke out about the “Green surge” in politics while on a campaigning visit to Scotland ahead of the Holyrood elections on May 7.
That surge has seen membership of the Green Party in England and Wales reach 225,000 since Mr Polanski took over as leader in September 2025.
This includes a “huge surge from the Labour Party of disillusioned Labour members”, he claimed.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Greens now have more than 10,000 members.
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Taking part in an event in Glasgow hosted by podcaster Sean McDonald, the Green added that this rise in support for such parties was “happening all over the world”.
He told the audience: “It’s happening south of the border, here, it’s happening with the Scottish Greens, it’s happening with Zohran Mamdani in New York.”
Speaking about the “eco-socialism” he said links such political movements, he insisted: “We really need it now.”
Mr Polanski spoke about the “sense of people just recognising that the cost of living is hitting people really hard, we’ve kind of got this toxic combination of low wages and high bills”.
He added: “You’ve also got the fact that this country, Scotland, has been screwed over by Westminster governments for a long time.”
However, he said the Scottish Greens had been “speaking with authentic, courageous voices, speaking truth to power”, saying: “I think that is exactly what Scotland needs right now, the UK needs right now and the world.”
Councillor Holly Bruce, the Scottish Green Party’s candidate for the Glasgow Southside constituency previously held by former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, agreed that “there has been a Green surge absolutely in Scotland”.
She added, however, that this came after “many years of dedicated activism within Glasgow and within the south side that has slowly been growing”.
Ms Bruce said this “has been growing to a point where we are potentially winning our first ever constituency seat in the south side of Glasgow”.
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