- By Mary McCool and Craig Williams
- BBC Scotland News
The Prime Minister has ended the power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Green Party.
The move follows the government’s decision to abandon climate targets and a pause in prescribing puberty blockers for under-18s.
The conservatives have announced that they will hold a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Humza Yousaf.
This could come as early as next week and Mr Yousaf faces calls for elections to be held.
The SNP is now a minority government and will need to win the support of opposition MPs for its program to be approved by the Scottish Parliament.
The SNP holds 63 of Holyrood’s 129 seats, two short of the overall majority, with the Greens having seven, the Scottish Conservatives 31 and Labor 22.
The Speaker of Parliament should support the status quo in the event of a tie.
Former SNP member Ash Regan now sits as an Alba Party MP.
She is understood to have written to the First Minister to raise concerns about the Scottish Government’s priorities and ask if there are any areas where her party and the SNP can work together.
Former first minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said Mr Yousaf had made Ms Regan the “most powerful MP in the Scottish Parliament”.
“Sold out for future generations”
The end of the Bute House deal began with an early morning meeting between Mr Yousaf and Scottish Green Party co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater.
They were seen leaving Bute House – the Prime Minister’s official residence in Edinburgh – ahead of an emergency cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Humza Yousaf said he had formally informed Ms Slater and Mr Harvie that the deal – which was signed by both parties after the 2021 Holyrood elections – had ended.
The two Green politicians immediately left their junior ministerial posts, which they held in exchange for their party’s support for the SNP-led government.
The Greens later said the SNP had “betrayed future generations”.
The prime minister’s spokesman said Mr Yousaf briefed his cabinet at 8.30am for an hour and his colleagues “supported the position enthusiastically”, banging the table to show their support.
At a press conference later at Bute House, Mr Yousaf said he had thanked his former colleagues for their contribution to the Scottish Government and made clear the SNP intended to work with the Greens “there where we can” and “in the national interest”.
“The Bute House Agreement was about ensuring the stability of the Scottish Government and it delivered a number of achievements,” he said.
“But this measure has achieved its objective: it no longer guarantees the stability of Parliament.
“The events of recent days have made this clear and therefore, after careful consideration, I believe that going forward it is in the best interests of the people of Scotland to seek a different arrangement.”
Mr Harvie had previously said he would step down as co-leader if the party voted to end the deal, but on Thursday he said his position would be a discussion for another day.
Speaking to reporters in the Garden Lobby of Parliament, Mr Harvie said the Prime Minister’s decision was a “total turnaround from recent days”.
Asked if the party would be as cooperative with the government during negotiations for the next Holyrood budget, he replied: “Do you think the current government will still be in place for the next budget?
In a strongly worded statement, Ms Slater called the end of the Bute House Agreement “an act of political cowardice by the SNP” and accused the party of “betraying future generations”.
She also said she was confident Green MPs would have supported the party remaining in government if the vote had gone ahead.
She said: “Neither they nor SNP members will have this opportunity. Instead, the most reactionary and retrograde forces within the Prime Minister’s party forced him to do the opposite of what he himself said was in Scotland’s best interests.
“In contrast, as co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, we were prepared to put our own political careers on the line with our members, to defend our achievements in government, despite everything the backbenchers in the SNP and others got us started.”
Relations between the two parties came to a head following SNP energy secretary Mairi McAllan’s announcement last week that Scotland’s target was to cut carbon emissions by 75%. by 2030 compared to 1990 levels was out of reach and would be abandoned.
This angered many grassroots Green members.
Mr Harvie said there was “distress” within the party following the decision and that young transgender people may now “not have access to the treatment they need”.
The prime minister said on Saturday he appreciated the power-sharing deal with the Greens, adding: “I think we have achieved a lot together in government. I want to continue to achieve a lot.”
Asked if he could soon lead a minority government, Mr Yousaf replied: “I don’t think that will be the case.”
Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Green MPs sat quietly with their heads bowed as Mr Yousaf defended the record of both parties in government.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross accused the prime minister of “panicking before the extremist Greens can dump him” and said he was tabling a vote of no confidence in the prime minister.
It is not yet clear whether the Greens will support Mr Ross in the vote of no confidence, which will not take place until next week at the earliest.
Mr Ross said Mr Yousaf had “abandoned the platform he stood on”, adding: “He claims it’s now a new beginning but in reality it’s the beginning of the end. Humza Yousaf doesn’t Isn’t he a lame prime minister?”
“Weak, divided and incompetent”
Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar said it was time to “end this circus” and called for an election.
He said: “The challenges facing our country have never been greater, but the Scottish Government has never been poorer and its leadership has never been weaker.
“The people of Scotland can see that the SNP has lost its way: weak, divided and incompetent. They are putting party before country.”
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have also said they want an election.
Mr Harvie told parliament the SNP could no longer rely on Green votes in parliament and asked Mr Yousaf who he thought would have pleased more – Mr Ross, SNP rebel Fergus Ewing or Alex Salmond, the former SNP leader and prime minister who now leads it. the Alba Party.
He said: “Which of them does he think he can now count on to get a majority in Parliament?
Former SNP leadership candidate Kate Forbes – a vocal critic of the SNP-Greens partnership – said on X, formerly Twitter, that she believed government was most effective “when its priorities match those of the public” and that the SNP was “the most electable as a party”. large tent, representative of the nation”.
She added: “Amidst all the differing opinions within the SNP on this decision regarding [the Bute House Agreement] » by the FM, some delighted and others gutted, it is worth remembering our fundamental objectives: to serve the people of Scotland, end inequality, eradicate poverty, govern well and seek prosperity, like other Indian countries.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry, another critic of the Bute House deal, said the end of the deal was a “huge opportunity” to reset the SNP agenda in government.
She posted on X: “No more identity politics and virtue signaling. Time for policies to tackle the fundamental issues our voters bring to their doorsteps.
Former Scottish First Minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said Humza Yousaf made Alba’s Ash Regan the “most powerful MP in the Scottish Parliament”.
Speaking to the BBC after the collapse of the power-sharing deal between the SNP and Greens, Mr Salmond said the First Minister had managed to rile up all the opposition parties at Holyrood.
Ms Regan, Alba’s sole MP, is writing to the First Minister to raise concerns about the Scottish Government’s priorities and see if there are any areas where her party and the SNP can work together, ahead of any vote of confidence.
The SNP government cannot guarantee Mr Yousaf will win the confidence vote, which is likely to take place next week.
If all opposition MPs join forces against the Prime Minister, he will lose.
This vote is not binding strictly speaking, but politically he would be more or less obliged to resign.
Parliament would then have 28 days to agree on a successor and, otherwise, early elections would be called.
So how could Mr. Yousaf avoid this scenario?
If the Greens calm down over the next week and choose to abstain rather than vote against him – or if any of the opposition MPs can be persuaded to switch sides.
The SNP has 63 MSPs. Their opponents have 65. A change of government could result in a tie in which the Speaker (the equivalent of the Speaker of the House of Commons) would be deemed to support no change.
Alba MP Ash Regan is expected to write to the Prime Minister to offer terms of his support.
Without his vote or at least a few MPs abstaining or sitting idly, Humza Yousaf’s political survival would be in serious doubt.