Scotland 'overlooked' in first major meeting of Your Party leadership

Niall Christie, the only Scottish representative on its ruling committee, said it was “undemocratic” that no Scottish members would be part of the body which will decide the party’s approach towards the upcoming Holyrood elections.

The party has faced criticism in the past for holding up the creation of an official Scottish executive committee (SEC) and Christie previously warned that delays from Your Party high command were impeding their ability to contest the election in May.

In a briefing note for members and shared publicly, Christie updated on the events of the first full meeting of Your Party’s central executive committee (CEC), which also saw the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the Westminster leader of the party.

Niall Christie, the Scottish representative on the Your Party CEC (Image: Scottish Greens)

Christie said: “Despite Scotland being overlooked, a vote was taken on a paper on the 2026 local elections in England which passed – including a process for selecting candidates, campaigning, funding, and other relevant issues.”

He added that the elections in Scotland and Wales were listed for discussion on the agenda but did not appear in the relevant papers and an open letter published by Your Party Scotland at the end of last month was not on the agenda “despite previous assurances”.

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The open letter blasted delays from party headquarters which have prevented Your Party Scotland from setting up an independent executive committee.

Christie has said this prevents the party from deciding its approach to the Scottish Parliament elections, including whether and where the party stands candidates and who these candidates will be.

The deadline for selecting candidates is on April 1.

Jeremy Corbyn at Your Party's Scottish Founding Conference in the Bonar Hall in Dundee (Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Christie’s memo, published on Monday, said that the “vast majority” of decisions about Your Party would be taken by the “officers group” instead of the CEC. This group is effectively a sub-committee of the CEC, elected by members of the 24-strong ruling body.

Christie added: “I questioned the undemocratic nature of not having anyone from Scotland (or Wales) sitting on the officers group taking decisions about the next steps for Scotland. I was assured there would be a chance to ‘input’ by the chair.

“Decisions about Scotland – including the establishment of branches, the SEC and the 2026 Holyrood elections – are now in the hands of the officers group.”

The interim SEC will meet on Monday evening, Christie said, to discuss the “lack of movement” from the party’s central leadership.

Your Party was approached for comment.