Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Humza Yousaf has terminated the governing coalition deal between his party and the Scottish Greens—one which he once described as being “worth its weight in gold”—with “immediate effect.”
The Greens were preparing to vote on ending the agreement in the coming weeks, after airing their frustration over Yousaf’s decision to drop a key climate pledge and to U-turn on the use of puberty blockers. Now they won’t have the chance to do so, after Yousaf decided to jump before he was pushed.
But there is a chance he will still be pushed out of his position yet, with reports showing that the SNP leader could face a vote of no confidence as early as next week.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has been quick to celebrate what he describes as “the beginning of the end for this weak first minister,” adding that it was “high time to bring this chaotic chapter to its sorry conclusion.”
For now, the SNP will move forward as a minority government, which will raise questions over its ability to pass legislation through Holyrood, Scotland’s Parliament.
Pro-UK Scottish writer Effie Deans told The European Conservative that the SNP “never needed to form a coalition with the Scottish Greens” in the first place. This is because “it could depend on its support” anyway, “not least because the Greens depend on SNP voters choosing them with their second votes” under the country’s ‘Additional Member’ electoral system.
Deans added:
The SNP therefore will continue as a minority government and all the damage the Greens have done to it with unpopular policies will have been for nothing.
The SNP has been hit hard by continuous negative press coverage, with the much-criticised Hate Crime and Public Order Act proving disastrous and Peter Murrell—former party chief executive and husband of former party leader and Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon—being charged in connection with the embezzlement of campaigning funds. It seems unlikely that these April showers of bad publicity will result in any May flowers, as the party’s problems look set to get worse.
