MSP

Update from Lorna Slater, your Green MSP for the Lothian Region

In March I was delighted to be re-appointed as the Minister for Green Skills,
Circular Economy and Biodiversity under the new First Minister, Humza Yousaf.
This reappointment follows a party Council meeting where members agreed
unanimously to continue with the Bute House Agreement (BHA).

We worked with Council to convene a meeting on the day of the SNP leadership
announcement so that members could give a clear steer on how they wanted the
party to react to the SNP leadership election.

Patrick and I are very excited to build on the successes of the BHA thus far and
deliver even more for the people of Scotland and our environment. Humza Yousaf
has made clear that he will continue the vital work that we are doing to deliver
for people and planet.

It hasn’t always been easy. You might have seen recently that the Tories in
Holyrood tabled a ‘vote of no confidence’ in an effort to remove me. This was
simply a political game and a stunt. This was unsuccessful but we know it was
never designed to work - it was designed to intimidate me, and it didn’t succeed
in doing that either.

The latest polling has the Scottish Greens winning a record number of MSPs in
the next Holyrood election - some even say we could win three MSPs in Lothian!
We are only growing stronger. As a branch I’m really looking forward to
developing an election strategy and a system for selecting and supporting our
candidates and delivering a larger MSP group.

I’d also welcome feedback on other formats or communication styles for the month
updates to branches or if there is anything else I can do to ensure I’m
available to members for questions or discussions.

Ministerial Update

We’re making progress towards a new national park, the Circular Economy Bill has
been laid before Parliament and the Natural Environment Bill will go out for
consultation over the Summer. We’ve also secured another round of the Nature
Restoration Fund and the Recycling Improvement Fund which will be game-changing
for Scotland.

Work that everyone will have been watching unfold is that of Scotland’s Deposit
Return Scheme, which was due to launch this August. Unfortunately this was
rendered inoperable on time after Tories in Westminster refused to grant
permission to the scheme under the ‘Internal Market Act’.

The Tories using powers that they awarded themselves after Brexit to sabotage a
policy that they don’t like. In doing so they have hugely and irreversibly
undermined devolution while costing millions of pounds worth of investment and
hundreds of jobs.

The decision to effectively block the scheme will also have a terrible
environmental impact at a time when we need to be reducing emissions and taking
climate action. It would have been a game changer and would have represented a
massive step forward for our relationship with recycling and waste.

A wonderful - and very newsworthy! - visit I want to share is my recent trip to
the Isle of Rum. I had a great time visiting islanders and hearing their views
on the future of the state-owned Edwardian palace Kinloch Castle.

At COP15, the UN’s Biodiversity Conference I spoke for Scotland on behalf of
sub-national governments around the world, pushing for ambitious outcomes, power
and resources from all in order to tackle our nature and climate crises.

Co-leader and MSP Update

Our office helps hundreds of people every month with a variety of issues. We
have helped constituents fight for over £6,000 of social security benefits from
the DWP, helped house homeless families across the Lothians, supported Ukrainian
refugees access the support they need, push against vital bus services being
cut, and helped over one hundred people with accessing the healthcare they
needed coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I could not do what I do without the hard work, support and initiative of my MSP
office staff. Kayleigh, who you may also know as Cllr. O’Neill, manages my
office ensuring all day-to-day activity runs smoothly. We also have Zayneb, our
Campaigns & Comms officer, and our Casework officers Kelly & Nariese.

This month we also said goodbye to Cami who was my Parliament assistant and
first ever member of staff. He won’t be going far however as he will now be
working full time with our central team and party to do Digital Comms.

As co-leader I had the great privilege of speaking on Calton Hill at the Our
Republic Rally. I spoke about the chance to replace them with an elected head of
state who can speak up for the powerless.

This year we have started ramping up our local engagement and campaigns thanks
to our new Campaigns and Communications Officer. With the help of local
councillors we are looking to open up our Holyrood Park work again which will
look at old legislation around the city’s historic green space.

In West Lothian we have begun work to help the biodiversity, safety and save the
beauty of Linlithgow Loch. Our team have held a number of stakeholder meetings
and will be formally engaging with the community very soon. We are also
supporting campaigns around bus infrastructure and the work to save Howden Park
Centre which is a community theater that hosts local shows and youth groups.