If Humza Yousaf last week suffered his ‘worst week’ in office, then the same can be said this week for Patrick Harvie, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens. On Monday, it looked like his party had the upper hand on the future of the Scottish government. But today, just before an emergency 8.30 a.m Cabinet meeting, the First Minister made their decision for them and turfed the Greens out of government – marking the end of the three-year-long Bute House Agreement.
It’s a move that will delight a number of senior SNP figures, and possibly even some parts of the Green party’s membership too. Relations between the two pro-independence parties have been rocky for a while, following the failure of flagship Green policies like the deposit return scheme and highly protected marine areas. Yet it was the ditching of a prominent green target last week that marked the beginning of the end for the coalition.
The Scottish Greens faced an almighty backlash from their grassroots membership after it was announced on Thursday that the target to cut carbon emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 would be scrapped. To try to get on the front foot, Harvie and his co-leader Lorna Slater announced an emergency general meeting to allow their members to have a say on the future of the Bute House Agreement. Owing to technicalities, the earliest this could take place was next month in May.
The prospect of weeks of uncertainty was clearly too much for some SNP backbenchers, concerned about the disproportionate influence that they felt the Greens were wielding. Few relished the prospect of their own government’s future being decided by a party membership that only secured eight per cent of the vote at the last election in 2021. But today’s news is embarrassing for Yousaf given it was less than a week ago that the First Minister said he hoped the co-operation agreement would continue.
Yousaf’s predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon, hailed the arrangement in 2021, yet she was never able to convince certain sections of her party on the merits of the deal. Two of the three candidates who stood in the leadership contest to replace Sturgeon were openly hostile to the coalition. Both Kate Forbes and Ash Regan made clear that they had no issues with running a minority government. Indeed, the fact that Forbes only came a narrow second to Yousaf while espousing very differing views to the Greens on rural, economic and social issues, ought to have been seen as a warning shot.
Over the last 12 months, SNP backbenchers including Fergus Ewing and Christine Grahame – both Forbes backers in the leadership race – have openly criticised the SNP-Green coalition. Ewing has made no secret of his disdain for the ‘wine bar revolutionaries’ while Grahame told ITV Borders on Wednesday evening that the arrangement has ‘run its course’.
The UK’s first Green parliamentarian Robin Harper has effectively disowned his former party after watching how the Harvie-Slater duo were running the show. Harper told The Spectator this morning that the Green party is unable to engage in cross-party co-operation in its current iteration and has called for Harvie to step down immediately.
The frustration with Harvie’s party also reflects a growing anxiety within the SNP about the upcoming general election and the optics of an increasingly urbanised Scottish government isolating rural voters. Recent surveys have seen Scottish Labour predicted to become the biggest party in Scotland, and top the SNP in the polls for the first time since 2014. For a party that won 56 of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats less than a decade ago, there is a feeling that fundamental change had to happen.
But while much of the SNP will be glad to see the back of the Greens, the First Minister’s hesitancy to end the deal – combined with his general unpopularity in parliament – raises questions about his own future and the Scottish National party’s ability to function as a minority government going forward.
SNP ditch Greens as Bute House Agreement breaks down
7
1
25.04.2024
If Humza Yousaf last week suffered his ‘worst week’ in office, then the same can be said this week for Patrick Harvie, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens. On Monday, it looked like his party had the upper hand on the future of the Scottish government. But today, just before an emergency 8.30 a.m Cabinet meeting, the First Minister made their decision for them and turfed the Greens out of government – marking the end of the three-year-long Bute House Agreement.
It’s a move that will delight a number of senior SNP figures, and possibly even some parts of the Green party’s membership too. Relations between the two pro-independence parties have been rocky for a while, following the failure of flagship Green policies like the deposit return scheme and highly protected marine areas. Yet it was the ditching of a prominent green target last week that marked the beginning of the end for the coalition.
The Scottish Greens faced an almighty backlash from their grassroots membership........
© The Spectator
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