Yousaf kicks Greens out of government

The powersharing deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens at Holyrood has been brought to an end, it is understood.

First Minister Humza Yousaf had called an emergency meeting of his Cabinet on Thursday morning amid mounting tensions between the two parties.

Yousaf intervened after the Scottish Greens announced plans for a vote of their own members on the deal.

Green party members were furious that climate change targets were dumped last week and forced a vote that will take place next month.

That, combined with the decision to pause the use of puberty blockers for new patients attending the only Scottish gender identity clinic for children in Glasgow, resulted in the Greens saying last week that they would have a vote on the future of the powersharing deal.

The Bute House Agreement, which was signed in 2021 and is named after the official residence of the Scottish First Minister in Edinburgh, brought the Green Party into government for the first time anywhere in the UK.

It gave the SNP a majority at Holyrood when the votes of its MSPs were combined with those of the seven Greens members, and also made Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater junior ministers in the Scottish Government.

Without it the SNP would need to operate as a minority administration at Holyrood.

High-profile figures in the SNP, such as former leadership candidate Kate Forbes and party stalwart Fergus Ewing, have previously called for the deal to be ended.

Yousaf was the only candidate in the SNP leadership contest who supported continuing the deal, and he previously hailed it as being “worth its weight in gold”.

But after the Green vote on the future of the deal was announced, Harvie said he “honestly” did not know if his party would back its continuation.

During a press conference at Bute House, his official residence in Edinburgh, the First Minister said: “It is no longer guaranteeing a stable arrangement in Parliament, the events of recent days have made that clear, and therefore, after careful consideration, I believe that going forward it is in the best interest of the people of Scotland to pursue a different arrangement.

“That is why, following a discussion with my Cabinet this morning, I have formally notified Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater that I am terminating the Bute House Agreement with immediate effect.”

Yousaf added that the day marks a “new beginning for this SNP government”.

Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater confirmed the end of the cooperation agreement, stating: “This is an act of political cowardice by the SNP, who are selling out future generations to appease the most reactionary forces in the country.

“They have broken the bonds of trust with members of both parties who have twice chosen the co-operation agreement and climate action over chaos, culture wars and division.

“And by ending the agreement in such a weak and thoroughly hopeless way, Humza Yousaf has signalled that when it comes to political cooperation, he can no longer be trusted.“

She continued: “We want, we demand, a fairer greener Scotland, we believed the Bute House Agreement would speed up that process, only to be let down by the SNP time and time again - on council tax, on oil and gas, on 2030 and most obviously, again today.

“I appeal to those SNP members who do care about climate, trans rights, independence and our country to consider if they are in the right party for their values, or if their home should be with us as we prepare to step up our defence of the planet in opposition.“

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie commented: “This chaotic and incompetent government is falling apart before our eyes while Scots pay the price.

“Humza Yousaf is too weak to hold his own government together and he is too weak to deliver for Scotland - three years into the Bute House Agreement the promises the SNP and Greens made have been torn to shreds.

“The collapse of this ill-fated marriage was inevitable but Scotland needs an entirely new government.”

Scottish Conservative Party chair Craig Hoy said the scrapping of the Bute House Agreement highlights how “inept” Scotland’s First Minister is.

“The collapse of this toxic coalition is an utter humiliation for Humza Yousaf, who hailed it as ‘worth its weight in gold’ and continued to back it to the hilt right until the end.

“The First Minister’s judgment is so poor that he couldn’t see what a malign influence the anti-growth Greens have been in government and his authority so weak that he was bounced into this u-turn by his own MSPs.

“It beggars belief that the Greens were invited into government in the first place – but even more astonishing that Humza Yousaf allowed them to call the shots on issues like abandoning oil and gas, further delays to dualling the A9 and A96, devastating fishing curbs and gender ideology.”

Don't miss the latest headlines with our twice-daily newsletter - sign up here for free.