Ex-Greens co-leader calls for more respect in politics in nod to Margo MacDonald

Former Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie has urged colleagues to be more like his late friend Margo MacDonald in treating others as “opponents rather than enemies”.

Harvie left his post after 17 years at the top of the party on Friday, following his decision to stand down earlier this year. Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay have been elected as the party’s new co-leaders.

Departing as the longest tenured political leader in Scotland, he has witnessed tectonic shifts in the landscape, including the first SNP majority, the independence referendum, Brexit, and Covid-19, and he even served for three years as a Scottish Government minster as a result of the Bute House Agreement.

Harvie told the PA news agency that in that time there has been some positive change, but he labelled the polarisation that has festered in political discourse “unhealthy”.

Mr Harvie, second right, was first elected to Holyrood in 2003 (Andrew Milligan/PA). PA Media

He said: “We have a political culture at the moment where people adopt a kind of ‘us and them’ position too easily.

“There are dividing lines in our politics, there are important dividing lines and we need to debate them, but also to disagree well and to disagree in a spirit of respect.”

Harvie invoked the memory of Ms MacDonald, his friend and the well respected SNP-turned-independent MSP.

MacDonald was a force in Holyrood, respected across parties.

“Margo MacDonald used a phrase that captured it best for me,” he said.

“‘We need to treat each other as opponents, but not enemies’.

“She was always able to do that, while never shying away from or hiding her passionate belief in independence, as one example, or other issues that many people would treat as divisive on social policy.

“She was always robust in her position, but she was able to disagree in good spirit.

Margo MacDonald was a well respected MSP (PA). PA Media

“I think there’s something in our political culture – not just in Scotland, but around the world at the moment – that needs to be reminded what Margo said.”

The former Green co-leader reminisced about one instance of togetherness in politics he heard of from a colleague in Edinburgh on the day of the independence referendum.

Choking back tears, Harvie spoke of an elderly man who had come to a polling station being manned by activists from both the Yes and No campaigns, who then turned to one and said: “How do you do this, son?”

Harvie said: “He’d never voted before.

“Both sides were so overwhelmed by that they showed him through and they showed him where to go and everything and nobody was trying to hassle him for his vote – it was the fact that he was voting that was powerful.”