The Scottish Greens are set to vote to end the Bute House power-sharing deal at Holyrood amid a furious fallout with the SNP.
Members of the party have made the bombshell demand for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to decide on the future of the agreement less than three years after the Greens entered government for the first time.
The party leadership faces a furious backlash from within its own ranks over scrapped climate targets and the decision to suspend the use of puberty blockers for children being treated at Scotland’s only gender clinic.
If members vote to end the power-sharing agreement, the party’s co-conveners Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater will be forced to leave their £100,000-a-year ministerial roles and abandon the Holyrood government.
Last night the Scottish Tories called for the ‘toxic nationalist coalition’ to be scrapped before more damage is inflicted on the country and the economy.
2021 when Patrick Harvie, Nicola Sturgeon and Lorna Slater, top, were all smiles as the Bute House Agreement was sealed
Fast forward to 2024 and it was a case of if looks could kill, as Slater and Harvie confronted the SNP’s Mairi McAllan at Holyrood
Although no date has been set for the Greens’ emergency meeting, it is expected to take place within a month, with a single motion being proposed that will culminate in a binding vote on the deal with the SNP.
Mr Harvie yesterday confirmed a vote will take place and tweeted: ‘Many members have been calling for an EGM – a meeting for all members to discuss the situation, and decide the way forward.’
In a message to members, Ms Slater said: ‘Not everything in politics is easy, as we have seen over recent years, months and days.
‘But our strength as a green movement is in standing up against those destructive forces who would set fire to everything we have achieved given half the chance.’
First Minister Humza Yousaf yesterday insisted the SNP would continue to govern alone as a minority government should the Greens decide to quit the coalition, but claimed such a move was an unlikely scenario.
He said: ‘I don’t think that will be the case but it’s clearly a discussion that the Greens will have to have.
‘I really value the Bute House Agreement. We’ve achieved a lot in government and I want to keep achieving a lot with the Green Party.’
The Greens’ backlash erupted on Thursday after Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan confirmed to Holyrood that the Scottish Government would ditch a key climate target as Ministers had concluded it was not possible to reduce carbon emissions by 75 per cent by 2030.
Many Green members were already furious over the decision by NHS Scotland to stop giving puberty blockers to under-18s confused about their sexuality.
They claimed the move breached the Bute House Agreement as it had promised to put trans patients at the heart of decisions on their own healthcare.
The open revolt within the Greens coincided with the news last week that the SNP’s former chief executive Peter Murrell, who is married to Nicola Sturgeon, had been charged in connection with embezzlement of funds amid a police probe into the SNP’s finances.
Former First Minister Ms Sturgeon was SNP leader when the landmark agreement with the Greens was initially signed in August 2021.
While broadly popular at the time within the SNP, a number of prominent party figures have since called for the deal to be axed amid disastrous policy blunders such as the shambolic bottle recycling initiative and the controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
Among the critics are former finance secretary Kate Forbes, SNP stalwart Fergus Ewing and senior MSP Kenneth Gibson, who believe the various policy failures are being blamed on their party.
The Scottish Government had to pull the plug on the Greens-led Deposit Return Scheme in June.
Ministers had spent around £200million on the policy before admitting it could not go ahead as planned. They were also left red-faced over the flagship Highly Protected Marine Areas environmental scheme which had to be abandoned amid an outcry from the coastal and fishing communities.
The legislation to make it easier to change gender was also axed after a Westminster veto, with a failed legal action to save face finally abandoned in December.
The Scottish Conservatives said the latest spat between the government partners showed the power-sharing deal between the two was a ‘farcical disaster’.
Chairman Craig Hoy said: ‘The overwhelming failure of this toxic nationalist coalition is having a devastating impact on communities and businesses which is why the Bute House Agreement needs to be scrapped.
‘The SNP’s independence-obsessed coalition with their anti-growth Green counterparts has been a farcical disaster for Scotland.
Everyone knows the Greens should be nowhere near the levers of power within government.
‘Humza Yousaf is so weak that he described the coalition of chaos as “worth its weight in gold”, yet embarrassingly it’s the Greens who appear to be running away.’
Scottish Labour said the Scottish Government had ‘failed to deliver at every turn’.
Deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie added: ‘While Green MSPs cheer on Humza Yousaf in Holyrood, he is slashing climate targets and siding with oil and gas giants who are raking in billions in profit.
‘This SNP-Green government’s failures mean higher bills, fewer green jobs and other countries winning the global race for clean energy.
People across the country can see that this government has lost its way, has the wrong priorities and is letting them down.’
