MSP Patrick Harvie to step down as co-leader of Scottish Greens

Patrick Harvie has announced that he will be stepping down as the co-leader of the Scottish Green party.

The Glasgow MSP announced on Wednesday that he will not stand in the party’s upcoming leadership election, which is set to take place this summer.

Although he is stepping back from his leadership role in a few months, Harvie has been clear that he intends to run again as a Green MSP for Glasgow in 2026.

“It has been an extraordinary privilege to hold leadership roles in the Scottish Greens, first as co-convenor and then as part of our first ever co-leader team,” Harvie said on Wednesday.

“The election of co-leaders in a pre-election year is an important moment for the party.

“I won’t be part of the leadership team that fronts up that campaign, but I’m optimistic to see the party choose the people who will do so, and to us building on our record results and delivering the largest possible group of Green MSPs in 2026.”

Harvie said he will continue to serve out the rest of his term as the party’s co-leader until the Green’s leadership elections are held this summer.

Harvie was first elected in 2003 and is the party’s longest-serving MSP. He has co-led the Scottish Greens with Lorna Slater since 2021, when she was newly elected as an MSP.

Harvie has long been at the forefront of the Scottish Green party. He became the male co-convener of the party in 2008, a role he held until 2019, when the party changed its constitution to create co-leaders.

The Greens won eight seats in the 2021 Holyrood election, their most ever, which led to the Bute House power-sharing agreement with the SNP.

This rocketed both Harvie and Slater to the forefront of Scottish politics as junior ministers.

Harvie was named the minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights until the Bute House agreement was scrapped by former first minister Humza Yousaf in April of last year.

The strong and immediate backlash from Harvie and Slater ultimately led to Yousaf quitting as first minister and being replaced by John Swinney.

Reflecting on his time at the head of the party, Harvie said few people regarded the Greens as a serious political force at the start of Scottish devolution.

“But as we have grown, learned and developed, we have become the most significant, sustained new movement in Scottish politics for generations,” he said.

“Green solutions are more necessary than ever, and we have been the only party clearly making the case for the action needed to tackle growing inequality and the climate and nature emergency. Others are happy to set targets, but then actively resist the action needed to meet them.”

Harvie concluded his announcement by thanking everyone who has helped the Greens party grow and given him an opportunity to play a role.

“There is far more work ahead of us, especially as we see both UK and Scottish Governments drag their feet on climate action, and too often continue the policies which have made our society less equal,” he said.