WAKING up today to our lost European citizenship will be a blow for many of us. It’s a particularly bleak morning here in Glasgow where in 2016, two thirds of us voted to remain.

Brexit will have an enormous impact on our economy, on local projects funded by European money, and on our wellbeing, with families pulled apart by immigration controls. But Glasgow is also the place where the fight back to rejoin the EU as an independent nation begins.

After all, ours is the city which voted Yes in 2014. So it’s time not just for mourning, but for turning to the new – channeling our anger and frustration at not being heard into organising and campaigning towards a way back home.

On Brexit day the Scottish Greens held a rally at the Barras Art and Design venue in the east end. We heard from Ska Keller MEP, president of the Green group in the European Parliament Of course, it’s not Ska’s role to have a position on Scottish independence, but she was clear that Scotland should be invited back into the institutions of the EU if we were.

This week, MEPs stood up after the parliamentary vote to join hands and sing Auld Lang Syne. It’s been so moving to see this solidarity from our friends across Europe who have promised to keep a light on for us.

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At our rally we also heard from Julia Bandel, a young German student who told us how she got her letter of acceptance at Edinburgh University the same day the Brexit referendum result came in.

She had every right to wonder what kind of country she would be moving to, but Julia knew Scotland. She knew we would welcome her, and she knew that independence could be the route back to Europe.

Voices like Julia are really important at a time when union-jack waving Brexiteers have the cheek to accuse us of being “narrow nationalists”

Independence is about so much more than flags. It’s certainly about more than the SNP.

The Greens want independence for lots of reasons, including the levers it would give us to move to a low-carbon economy, release our enormous renewable energy potential and lead the way in tackling the climate emergency.

I’ve said before that the EU isn’t perfect – Scotland could play a positive role in change. An independent Scotland would have an even bigger voice at the European table than we did as part of the Union. We would have our own seat on the council, more MEPs, and with it more influence when it comes to the pressing issues.

Across Europe, Green parties are growing in influence – introducing new low carbon initiatives and rebalancing economies away from failed old economic models towards a focus on wellbeing.

Scotland could be part of that movement again, building a new sustainable future – but more than that, we could be leading it.

The momentum starts here in Glasgow.