First Minister Humza Yousaf has just wrapped up his press conference following the announcement that he has ended the Bute House agreement.
He gave a short speech, followed by some tough questions in a room packed with journalists.
Here are the main points:
- Yousaf confirmed he is terminating the Bute House agreement “with immediate effect”
- Whilst saying he was proud of the deal and it achieved successes, Yousaf made clear it has “served its purpose” and it’s in the SNP’s best interest to pursue a different arrangement
- This marks a “new beginning” for the SNP with plans to tackle child poverty, stand up for minorities, help with the cost of living minority government, and tackle the climate crisis
- When asked how he will handle running a**, he said it will be a challenge, but he has worked in a minority government before and he is ready to “step up”
- And on why he changed his mind so quickly on the deal, after only a few days ago announcing his support for the Greens, he says he has been reflecting for “quite some time”
- There’s been speculation he was pushed into the deal. But Yousaf strongly said “I’ve not been pushed” when asked about this
- The first minister also made it clear that he’s here to stay - denying he is “heading for the exit door”
Response from the Greens
This has not been a pleasant parting of the ways.
Some of the language used this morrning has been quite acrimonious for parties that have been in government for three years.
Humza Yousaf has terminated the Bute House agreement with immediate affect.
Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater has called Humza Yousaf’s decision an “act of political cowardice” and that “Humza Yousaf can no longer be trusted”.
The SNP will now have to reach out to other parties as it will be running a minority government.
This will be a more challenging time for the SNP and for their leader Humza Yousaf going forward.
The Scottish Greens are raging.
The party’s leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater have been unceremoniously sacked from ministerial office.
They’ve described the break-up of the partnership government with the SNP as an act of political cowardice.
They’re not mincing their words, accusing First Minister Humza Yousaf of weakness and betraying the electorate.
The SNP will now have to run Scotland as a minority government, seeking support from other parties to ensure legislation gets through the parliament.
Tellingly, the Greens wouldn’t be drawn on whether they would support the government in future budget votes, asking only if journalists really expected the government still to be in power by then.
What it means for Humza Yousef ?
This is a defining moment in Humza Yousaf’s leadership of the SNP and the Scottish government.
The self-styled continuity candidate when he replaced Nicola Sturgeon a year ago has already dispensed with some parts of her agenda.
He has now torn up one of the most significant elements of her legacy - the power-sharing agreement she struck with the Greens.
The deal which brought Green ministers into government for the first time anywhere in the UK was designed to last until the next Scottish Parliament election in 2026.
It has been scrapped within three years.
The tensions between the parties were obvious and increasing not least following the recent Scottish government decision to drop some key climate change targets.
The Greens were actually proposing to let their party membership decide whether or not to remain in government.
Humza Yousaf has got in there first - ditching the Greens rather than allowing the Greens the chance to ditch the SNP.
Response from other parties
Reaction to the scrapping of the agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens is coming in from Holyrood.
Craig Hoy, Scottish Conservative chairman, says: “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 judgement 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."
Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie said: “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 reasons behind it
At the heart of the break-up between the SNP and the Greens is a decision by the Scottish government to scrap its key 2030 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75%.
That issue very much remains on the table and has now given SNP ministers a problem, both legally and politically.
The climate change legislation requires the government to deliver a plan on how to meet those legally-binding targets and just a few weeks ago their independent advisers said the 2030 goal could no longer be met.
Scrapping it was their way of complying with the law and under the Bute House agreement the Greens would have been duty bound to support the target being dropped.
So, who do the SNP now turn to for support of the legislation which will scrap the goals?
Not the Lib Dems or Labour who proposed and supported the 75% in the first place. And certainly not the Greens.
So, could the SNP now have to make an unholy alliance with the Conservatives to push through the legislation which ended the power-sharing agreement?