PATRICK Harvie senses his party is on the verge of a breakthough in Glasgow.

The city has elected a single Green MSP at every Holyrood election since 2003 and he feels now is the time for that to double.

Not content with aiming for more than one through the PR list system, he is setting his sights on winning the Kelvin constituency from the SNP.

That might be ambitious but in doing so he is laying down a market that the Greens are here to stay and plan to be a force in Scottish politics.

The party has always had a core vote, enough to elect one MSP in the city, but the referendum gave Mr Harvie and his party a platform like no other to go out and impress.

And he aims to use that to take the Greens to the next level.

He said: “We have always had a strong set of ideas of we can improve Scotland. What we have always lacked in the past is the capacity to get out there and campaign.

“We are now six times the size of what we were a year ago. That’s after a gradual consistent growth in membership.

“So we’ve now got branches out there actively campaigning, reaching people we haven’t before.”

You would think given the boost the referendum provided he would be desperate to do it all over again, but he said that is not for him or any other politician to decide.

Instead he wants the people to decide, and unlike the vague SNP position, he has a mechanism for how it would work.

He said: “I still think independence would be good for Scotland. I’ve little doubt that at some point Scotland will choose to ask itself that question again.

“We have suggested it should be down to a citizens’ initiative. You set a target of maybe a million voters from the electoral register have to sign up and say we want this question put again. That’s just one way of taking it out of the hands of the politicians.”

But it’s the Green policy ideas he says can transform Scotland for the benefit of people communities.

Energy and air pollution are not surprisingly high on his agenda.

Taking energy generation and supply out of the hands of the big international giants and into the hands of local people is his big idea.

He wants councils and housing associations to generate their own renewable energy and sell a surplus to the grid with profit being invested back in the community.

It is the Green idea how Scotland can switch from the fossil fuel economy to renewables and reap the economic benefits too.

He said: “At the moment the bulk of our renewables is benefitting a small number of landowners and private sector business.

“I don’t want to swap a bunch of fossil fuel multi-nationals for a bunch of renewable multi nationals. I want to see a more socially just energy system instead.”

Pollution and air quality has long been an issue and indeed it was the first debate Mr Harvie led at Holyrood on becoming an MSP.

He has ideas how to reduce pollution in the city centre and ease traffic congestion and it doesn’t involve banning cars from city centre streets.

He said: “It would be unmanageable to suggest you entirely pedestrianise the entire city centre.

“There could be a case for the key routes which are very congested where the buses use like Renfield Street and Hope Street to have an hour and a half at each rush hour where there are restriction on vehicles so the bus flow is smooth and doesn’t become congested.”

He said Greens will push for more community health provision and wants to allow individual councils to decide what is the best way of raising their revenue.

The Greens favour a Land Value Tax and he said the council tax freeze has seen the better off benefit most and led to councils increasing fees and charges which he said is “the least fair least socially just way of increasing council revenues”.

Despite campaigning together in the referendum he says there is one key difference between the Greens and the SNP.

He said: "At the moment the most urgent difference is we are willing to say a transition away from the fossil fuel dominated economy is really urgent .

The SNP have done alright on renewables but they are still committed to another 40 50 years of oil and gas extraction."

The Greens have the best opportunity in long time to increase their number and his target is achieving their best result ever.

He said: “Double figures of seats is more achievable and more than one in Glasgow.”

He might not turn Glasgow Green but the cycling MSP might need a new tandem.