During what has been a somewhat tumultuous year on the political front, the relationship between the Scottish Government and business has once again been to the fore.

Speaking to Kate Forbes in an exclusive interview on the big economic matters in June, weeks after she became Deputy First Minister, what was striking but not surprising was her passionate belief in the importance of business and growth.

This was in stark contrast to the message from Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, who said in an interview with The Herald on Sunday in 2022 that economic growth was an area where her party had “a fundamentally different position to the Scottish Government”.

By the time of the interview in June with Ms Forbes, who is also Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic, the Scottish Green Party was no longer the SNP’s junior partner in government, with Humza Yousaf having ended the Bute House Agreement on co-operation in the spring when he was first minister.

Ms Forbes hammered home her belief, in the interview in June, that economic growth is crucial to delivering the Scottish Government’s “social justice” aims, including tackling child poverty and homelessness.

And her response, when asked about Ms Slater’s view on the economy, was strikingly frank but again not surprising.

Asked if she disagreed with Ms Slater’s comment on economic growth, Ms Forbes said: “Economic growth was an excluded area from the Bute House Agreement for the very reason that the SNP does believe in the importance of economic growth and economic growth is essential but not sufficient to deal with all of our aims and objectives so it cannot be ignored or dismissed but equally you can’t depend on it alone - that is where evidence-based government policy is also required, for example around the Scottish child payment, or whatever it is.”

Ms Forbes added: “But the way to deliver growth is of course........

© Herald Scotland