“It is very clear that Humza Yousaf has decided to burn his bridges with a progressive pro-independence majority that was established by the Bute House agreement,” Harvie told BBC Radio
Scotland.
The SNP is two votes short of a majority at Holyrood. Yousaf now has to rally every vote from his deeply split party and secure the backing of a former SNP minister, Ash Regan, who
defected to Alba last October in protest at the SNP’s stance on gender reform and its soft-pedalling on independence. If the result is tied, Holyrood’s presiding officer, Alison Johnstone, a former Green MSP, will have to make a casting vote in favour of Yousaf, under a protocol that presiding officers vote for the status quo.
Holyrood officials made clear that as the vote is not binding, under the Scottish parliament’s rules it would be up to the first minister to decide how to respond. However, losing a vote of no confidence so close to a general election in which the SNP could lose dozens of seats to Labour could make his position untenable.
The catalyst for the crisis had been his government’s decision last week to abandon its “world-leading” target to
cut Scotland’s carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, a move that provoked an open rebellion by Scottish Green party members. That rebellion in turn forced Harvie and Slater to
agree to an emergency vote by the Scottish Green party on staying in government – a concession that rattled Yousaf and immediately raised questions about the coalition’s viability.
The first minister, who is facing the loss of dozens of seats to Labour in the general election, said after the cabinet meeting on Thursday that the Bute House agreement had “served its purpose”. It had come to “its natural conclusion” and no longer gave his government the stability it needed, he said. The first minister insisted he was proud of what the coalition with the Greens had achieved, including nationalising rail services, taking 100,000 children out of poverty, bolstering green energy production and cutting taxes for the poorest.
Labour used the session to call for a snap Holyrood election. Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, then announced that the Tories would be tabling the vote of no confidence. Yousaf was “not fit for office”, Ross said. “We said at the beginning this was a coalition of chaos and it has ended in chaos.”
Speaking as a backbench MSP for the first time in nearly three years, Harvie accused the first minister of caving in to rightwing forces in Scottish nationalism and in parliament. He named Salmond, who is widely believed to be orchestrating attacks on Yousaf’s leadership; Fergus Ewing, the most vociferous SNP critic of the Greens deal; and Ross. “Who does the first minister think he has pleased most today – Douglas Ross, Fergus Ewing or Alex Salmond? And which of them does he think he can rely on for a majority in parliament now?” Harvie asked.
The Grundiana
In Glasgow four years ago, world leaders gathered round to hammer out a deal for greater co-operation in implementing environmental policies which would lead to cutting global emissions by 2030...or 2035...perhaps 2050 - or in the never-never land promised by right-wing governments who insist the 'sunlit uplands' are just over the horizon. Trouble is, for every hill the Green lobby climbs another appears in its place. What possible reason could be at the root of this arbitrary dismissal of a coalition that'd "bolstered green energy production, cut taxes and raised so many children from poverty"?
Answers on a postcard from our resident Scottish neighbours, please...
