Green party to join Scottish election race in New Year

THE SCOTTISH Green Party will join the race for the Shetland seat at next year’s Scottish Parliamentary election by announcing a candidate in the New Year.

The party has confirmed it will be putting a candidate forward for the elections, which will be held on 7 May 2026, amid what it calls a “rapidly growing Green movement in Shetland”.

Green candidate Alex Armitage finished third in the 2024 UK general election race for Orkney and Shetland earning over 2,000 votes and an almost 10 per cent vote share.

Alex Armitage, Martin Randall and Debra Nicolson launching a previous Green manifesto. Photo: Neil Riddell/Shetland News.

Alex Armitage, Martin Randall and Debra Nicolson launching a previous Green manifesto. Photo: Neil Riddell/Shetland News.

He has now announced that he will be putting forward his name for selection to be that candidate.

“I’ve put myself forward for selection as the Green candidate because I care deeply about Shetland and I want to disrupt the powerful, corporate interests that seek to extract ever more resources from our people, our communities and our environment,” he said.

“We need a departure from the status quo, and I can be the voice of challenge and change the Shetland desperately needs.

“We need to discover a new sense of hope in our politics. Folk are turning to the Greens because of our focus on people and planet, because we stand up for the marginalised, and because of our commitment to justice.”

Whoever the Greens choose, they will join Liberal Democrats’ Emma Macdonald, SNP’s Hannah Mary Goodlad and John Erskine from Scottish Labour in challenging for the seat which Beatrice Wishart will vacate in May.

The Scottish Green Party said the Green movement “has been gaining prominence nationally” under the UK leadership of Zack Polanski, with “membership and polling both at record levels”.

“Locally in Shetland, Greens have made significant inroads in local politics, with the first Green councillor elected in 2022 and a vibrant general election campaign last year seeing Shetland deliver one of the highest Green vote shares in Scotland,” the party said.

Shetland Greens co-convener Amy Garrick-Wright said the country needed Green politicians who “will advocate for the public when the system fails to serve their needs”.

“We are living in a political climate where human rights are under attack, the cost of living crisis places increasing pressure on working people, and a disproportionate amount of wealth and power is held by large corporations,” she said.

“There is a rapidly growing Green movement in Shetland energised for change, and our campaign is grounded in ethical, human-centred principles.

“We aim to protect the seas and land that sustain our industry, including fishing and crofting, and we will advocate for greater Shetland autonomy so that the wealth generated from our natural resources remains within the community, rather than in distant corporate accounts.”

The Reform party are also expected to stand a candidate for the Shetland seat in the May 2026 elections.

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