How did the Scottish Greens end up with so much influence?

There are often complaints that the Scottish parliament lacks the ‘big beasts’ of other European counterparts. It is not a complaint, however, which can reasonably be levelled at Fergus Ewing. Ewing is a giant of Scotland’s independence movement and a giant of Scottish politics.

But perhaps the thing which is most interesting about Fergus Ewing is that he is not a socialist. He has that in common with much of the traditional SNP support, and much of the SNP support outside the central belt — but it increasingly marks him out from the Scottish government, led by his very own Scottish National party.

Last Wednesday, Ewing appeared on Holyrood Sources, the weekly podcast that I jointly host. He was free-flowing and articulate, as we have come to expect, and not long into the podcast he raised the issue of what he called his party’s ‘dalliance’ with the Scottish Greens. It is important to note that Scotland’s Greens are especially unique, even amongst their European peers.