Greens accuse SNP of ‘political cowardice’ as Yousaf ends powersharing deal

The Scottish Greens have accused the SNP of “political cowardice” after First Minister Humza Yousaf called time on the powersharing agreement the two parties had at Holyrood.

An emergency meeting of the Scottish Cabinet on Thursday morning was held to agree the end of the Bute House Agreement – the deal that had brought the Greens into power in Scotland in 2021.

The move means Green co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie are no longer part of the Scottish Government, and the SNP will now operate as a minority administration.

The end of the deal comes amid growing tensions between the two pro-independence parties – with Greens left furious after the Scottish Government last week abandoned a key climate change target.

Greens were also unhappy at the decision to pause the prescription of puberty blockers to new patients at Scotland’s only gender services clinic for young people in Glasgow – a decision taken in the wake of the Cass Review in England and Wales.

After the deal was ended, Ms Slater said: “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.”

Hitting out at the First Minister, she added: “By ending the agreement in such a weak and thoroughly hopeless way, Humza Yousaf has signalled that when it comes to political co-operation, he can no longer be trusted.”

Ms Slater accused the SNP of having “broken the bonds of trust with members of both parties” and said it had “betrayed the electorate”.

The Greens had planned to hold a vote on the future of the Bute House Agreement – which takes its name from the First Minister’s official residence in Edinburgh and was signed when Nicola Sturgeon was first minister.

But before that could be held, the SNP acted to call time on the arrangement.

Ms Slater insisted the Green co-leaders had been “confident” their members would have backed staying in Government in the vote, and “continuing our work for Scotland”.

But some high-profile members of the SNP, including former leadership candidate Kate Forbes and party stalwart Fergus Ewing, have previously questioned the arrangement – prompting Ms Slater to claim the “most reactionary and backwards-looking forces within the First Minister’s party have forced him to do the opposite of what he himself had said was in Scotland’s best interests”.

She insisted: “By contrast, we as co-leaders of the Scottish Greens were prepared to put our own political careers on the line with our members, to defend our achievements in government, despite enduring all that SNP backbenchers and others threw against us. ”

Continuing her attack on the First Minister, Ms Slater added: “What a pity he didn’t have the fortitude or the bravery to do the same.”

Speaking about the SNP, she said: “If they can’t stand up to members of their own party, how can anyone expect them to stand up to the UK Government at Westminster and defend the interests of Scotland?”

In response to the end of the powersharing deal, Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: “This chaotic and incompetent Government is falling apart before our eyes.

“Humza Yousaf is too weak to hold his own Government together and he is too weak to deliver for Scotland.”