The mood among the three hundred or so Scottish Greens members gathered in Eden Court Theatre in Inverness on Saturday was upbeat.
Not even Storm Boelo could dampen the party faithful’s spirits.
“It’s great to be here. I have been coming to the Greens' party conferences for about ten years now and the party is in a very good position. We have good policies which more and more people are supporting” said member David Hansen, 64, a former charity worker from Fife.
The main reason for the enthusiasm among the grassroots was the Greens’ result at May’s Holyrood election.
The party saw 15 MSPs elected – a record number – with the victory including the first two constituency seats in Holyrood the party has ever won.
Holly Bruce triumphed in Nicola Sturgeon’s Glasgow Southside while former Scottish Greens’ co-leader Lorna Slater defeated culture and external affairs secretary Angus Robertson in Edinburgh Central.
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But more election tests are on the horizon and the party’s finances were described in one motion to conference as “dire” ahead of the Holyrood election.
It said that the party was “way behind” achieving reserves of £500,000 for the campaign underlining it had to borrow £150,000 from the Green Party of England and Wales in April.
“The party went to the 2026 election far behind the goal of amassing a reserve of £500,000,” it said.
“We had to resort to taking a £150,000 loan from the GPEW to allow them to contest the election and have enough for local elections 2027.
“During this financial crisis, conferences in 2025 brought £28,000 less than planned.
“The party was unprepared and disorganised during a crucial election and it might be time to thoroughly review its structure.”
Holly Bruce of the Scottish Greens won Glasgow Southside at the Holyrood election in May, She is pictured with Patrick Harvie and Ross Greer and supporters at the Glasgow count. (Image: Colin Mearns)
Interviewed by The Herald the Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer was confident that the party is tackling its funding woes, helped by an upsurge in its membership to 11,000 - 2,000 more than its previous record high following the independence referendum in 2014.
Mr Greer said the party has started to pay back the loan to the GPEW and that a new fundraising committee which has been established to improve the financial outlook.
During his address he made a direct appeal for donations, called for members to help with fundraising, and for people to come forward who had expertise in financial and legal matters.
"We need to raise £20,000 right now," Mr Greer told the audience underlining a new appeal to target young voters.
"I need to ask 'will you donate'. If you are here today or watching online or on the BBC as we are a big enough party to be live streamed on the BBC now...every pound makes a huge difference."
He added: "Last year I asked those who could afford to chip in ahead of the Holyrood election and we got more donations that we have ever done before. People were incredibly generous and I want to say thank you."
The Scottish Greens want to increase their number of councillors at next year's local government elections. (Image: Colin Mearns)
Speaking to journalists after his speech, Mr Greer was asked directly if the party was “skint”.
He said: “We have been totally open that we were struggling this time last year. The biggest single difference to our finances has been the huge growth in our membership, from 7000 to 11,000…but we also had some of our members and supporters give really generously during the election.”
Despite the financial cloud, party leaders and strategists who were gathered in Inverness on Saturday were mapping out a strategy to return to power in Holyrood and were hopeful that on the back of the successful campaign in May more election victories are round the corner.
The first challenge will be in May next year with the local council elections.
Gaining control of Edinburgh city council is in their sights with both Mr Greer and fellow co-leader Gillian Mackay confident that their party can take control of the capital having aleady got significant support in the city.
Two years later the General Election will be held and the party is optimistic that – based on the first past the post victories in Glasgow Southside and Edinburgh Central – it can win its first MPs.
Strategists are pushing the party to run a more targeted campaign than it did in 2024, standing candidates in winnable seats and targetting resources to those areas. Glasgow South, currently held by Labour, is high on the wish list insiders want to see move to the Greens.
Glasgow South is currently Labour held. (Image: Colin Mearns)
And then the next big goal is the Holyrood election in 2031 with the party determined to further grow its number of MSPs and return to power again with the SNP, likely under a new First Minister such as Jenny Gilruth, who was a key ally of former leader Nicola Sturgeon.
Ahead of conference Mr Greer made clear his hopes that the Greens could become the largest opposition party in the Scottish Parliament and form another Bute House Agreement with the SNP.
Asked if the Greens would join an SNP government again, Mr Greer told PA: “The short answer to that is yes.”
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A key part of the campaign is to broader the party's appeal in order to gather further support from left leaning SNP supporters who may feel that under John Swinney the larger pro-independence party has moved too much towards the political centre ground.
“Our core messages which we will be repeatedly underlining to voters will be addressing the cost of living, fighting climate change and simply making life better for Scots,” one insider told The Herald.
They pointed to policies including the £2 cap on bus fares – currently in place in parts of Scotland and which they want to be swiflty rolled out nationally – and a new railcard for millennials paid for by wealthy flyers.
The policy was announced by Mr Greer in his conference speech.
He said the 31-49 age group was the only one not to be offered a discounted rail fare scheme.
Under the Green plans, a “millennial railcard” would save people one-third off fares across Scotland and the Scottish Greens have promised a new railcard for millennials paid for by wealthy flyers.
Mr Greer said the 31-49 age group was the only one not to be offered a discounted rail fare scheme.
The party said the policy would target the richest and most frequent flyers and would help limit emissions while supporting Scots taking the bus or train.
According to the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), a tax on frequent flyers could raise around £50 million a year.
Messaging
Another aspect of the strategy to return to power is over political messaging.
“We want our communication to be more disciplined, though this can be a bit of a balancing act in a party which appeals to free spirits,” said the insider.
It was an warning which Mr Greer delivered n his speech.
“We are under constant attack.
“Our opponents will take the opportunity to portray us as extreme as fringe or as unserious or out of touch with people’s lives,” he told members.
“We cannot afford to give our opponents those opportunities to attack us – 320,000 people voted for the Scottish Greens. If they put their faith in us to change their lives.
“That makes the work of a Green MSP very hard, it is very personally exposing. We stand for a different way of doing politics.
“We face a level of scutiny and often bad faith attacks that often aren’t faced by other parties.
“But I suppose if we wanted an easier ride from the media we would have joined Labour or the Tories.
“If we wanted people not to care, we would have joined the LibDems.”
While he did not mention the motion by name, most observers believed that Mr Greer was implicitly criticising the motion to the conference to give legal rights to people in polyamorous relationships.
The motion was seized on by the media, drowning out the key messages the Greens wanted to push on addressing the cost of living crisis and climate change.
“Over the last year Gillian and I have been taking the party on the journey on a much much more focused message,” he said.
“We got that incredible result in May but we still have a long way to go.
“There is a huge amount of change we need to make within our party, to its structures, to its culture, but the change we have already made has made us the most successful Green party in the world.”