THE SNP and Scottish Greens were never going to agree on everything as part of their co-operation deal - but where do they clash?

There are a number of policy areas where the two parties struggled to find common ground, but it should be noted that there are a whole host of policies where they do agree.

These are set out in the draft shared policy programme for the two parties titled "Working together to build a greener, fairer, independent Scotland".

But it is worth looking into the policies on which they don’t agree, and on which the Greens will likely challenge the Scottish Government when parliament is recalled at the end of August.

READ MORE: Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater urge Scottish Green members to take deal

Gross Domestic Product

The Scottish Government uses GDP to measure Scotland’s economic progress, but it has been excluded from the co-operation agreement because the Greens don’t see it as a “sensible measure to use on a finite planet''.

Greens co-leader Lorna Slater said: “What I’m very excited about in this agreement is that there is a proposal to create dashboard metrics for a wellbeing economy so other countries already have these.

"I’m an engineer, you can’t change things unless you can measure them. So we need to start having in place formal metrics in place for how we measure the wellbeing of people in Scotland”.

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Aviation and green ports

The Greens manifesto pledged a frequent flyer levy where passengers would pay an incrementally rising fee for every return flight they took, with the first return flight free, to replace air passenger duty.

With aviation contributing to climate change, it was unlikely the two parties would agree here. And the policy of any direct financial support given to aerospace businesses, defence and security sectors is also excluded from the agreement.

They also do not agree on green ports, where the SNP adapted the policy of free ports but instead focussing on growth, fair work practices and delivering a net zero economy.

However, Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “I think from the green point of view we still see it as fundamentally built on top of the free port model which is essentially about exempting taxable economic activity from the tax base and from planning and environmental regulations in some cases.

“So we have a disagreement about if that’s of any real value to our society and whether it creates any additional quality economic activity as opposed to just moving it around.”

READ MORE: Indyref2 listed as first priority in SNP-Scottish Greens co-operation deal

International relations

Some parts of international relations are included in the agreement, but both parties have different views on whether an independent Scotland should join NATO.

The Scottish Greens have long been opposed to the idea, and described the defence union as a "first strike" nuclear alliance and they are opposed to its policies. The SNP have been both pro and anti NATO over the years, but both parties agree on the removal of Trident.

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Field sports

Grouse shooting and fox hunting are just two of the field sports that the Scottish Greens are inherently opposed to because members recognise animals as sentient beings.

They oppose all bloodsports and want changes made to ensure licensing of grouse moors. It was stated however that the two parties were able to agree on “signficant areas for priority action in species protection”.

Selling sex

The Scottish Greens policy on sex work is that they want it decriminalised to “ensure sex workers are legally protected from exploitation, trafficking and violence” according to their 2021 manifesto.

However, the SNP manifesto instead focuses on “challenging mens attitudes towards the purchase of sex” and confronting the demand for prostitution. Therefore the “legal status and regulation of selling sex” is not included in the agreement.

READ MORE: SNP-Green deal will see two ministers in Government from Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater's party

Private schools

Both parties have agreed to work together on education reform, but the one area they could not agree on was private fee-paying independent schools, which are thus excluded from the agreement.

Cambo oil field?

Although Cambo wasn’t brought up in the draft agreement, it was brought up at the press conference on Friday with the First Minister, Harvie and Slater.

Sturgeon previously wrote to Boris Johnson calling on him to "reassess" the license for the huge crude oil field near Shetland. 

The First Minister would not outright say she opposed the deal under questioning from journalists, and pointed out it was a reserved issue. Some have suggested this may be a red line for Green members.

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However, Slater stepped in to defend the FM and said: “I’d like to acknowledge the First Minister’s direction of this, that I think she has made a significant change in direction on her approach to oil and gas with the statement that she put out last week.

“This is a big step in the right direction, the Scottish Greens are equivocally against Cambo, but our hands are tied while we’re not an independent country and we don’t have those powers, so we will work to get those powers to do the work that the Scottish Greens think needs to be done.”