Greens' Gillian Mackay calls on Swinney to stop 'swithering' and oppose Rosebank

Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay has accused First Minister John Swinney of years of swithering on oil and gas and urged him to come out against the Rosebank oil field.

Speaking at the party's conference in Inverness, she also criticised Prime Minister Andy Burnham for approving the Jackdaw gas field, saying she was adding him to her ever-growing list of eejits. She urged the UK government not to approve Rosebank, west of Shetland.

Ms Mackay asked whether the SNP was returning to being the pro-oil party of the past, and called on Mr Swinney to put people and planet before corporations.

She also claimed credit for the Greens' role in the campaign that saw ministers reject the Coul Links golf course in Sutherland, and for backing communities opposed to large data centres.

'Most successful Green party in the world'

Fellow co-leader Ross Greer said the party now had bragging rights as the most successful Green party in the world, after doubling its number of MSPs to 15 at May's Holyrood election and winning its first constituency seats in Glasgow Southside and Edinburgh Central.

He said the result could have been very different if just 2,300 votes had gone another way across the country.

New policy ideas

Mr Greer proposed a frequent flyer levy on people who fly regularly, to pay for a millennial railcard giving people in their 30s and 40s a third off rail fares. He also pledged to push for the £2 bus fare cap to be extended across Scotland next year as a step towards free bus travel.

He said the party would not back the Scottish Government's plans to reorganise councils unless ministers worked with the Greens to scrap and replace council tax, which he said leaves the poorest paying too much and the richest getting off lightly.

The Greens are targeting gains at next May's council elections, including a bid to win Edinburgh outright.