Greens spell out election target

The Greens are aiming to have eight MSPs

The Scottish Green Party has set itself the target of sending eight MSPs to Holyrood after next year's Scottish Parliament elections.

Scotland's only Green MSP, Robin Harper, said 68 candidates would be standing for the party under the second vote list system in all eight Scottish Parliamentary regions next year.

Mr Harper said this would give every voter in Scotland the chance to elect a Green MSP to represent their region.

He said: "Our message is clear - second vote Green. We must all work as hard as we possibly can to make our vision of eight MSPs in the Scottish Parliament a reality."

Robin Harper is the Greens' only MSP

Mr Harper made the announcement at the party's two-day autumn conference in Dunblane.

His message was supported by Eamon Ryan, Irish Green Party Member of Parliament, who also addressed the conference.

He said: "The Irish Greens and Scottish Greens are very similar sized parties with the same amount of members.

"We only had one TD (Irish Member of Parliament) at the last election in Ireland, and now we have six.

"I'd say it's important to explain to people the power of the second vote to the public."

Mr Harper said the Greens were the only party "that can claim to be best equipped to introduce the new politics which are at present still so sadly lacking from the parliament".

He said: "The beginnings of the new politics are there, but are constantly undermined by the adversarial nature of the grey parties and old style politicians."

The Socialists were also meeting this weekend

Mr Harper said the Greens support social and environmental justice, equity and sustainability.

The Scottish Socialist Party was also holding its conference this weekend.

The SSP is upbeat although Tommy Sheridan is its only MSP - it believes it is on course to win between six and eight seats next May.

The party has more members than ever before and they were gathering in Glasgow this weekend for a series of rallies and seminars.