SCOTTISH Greens co-leader Lorna Slater has said that Humza Yousaf ended the Bute House Agreement because he had “lost control of the right-wing of his party”.
It comes following the news that the former minister’s party will back the vote of no confidence in Humza Yousaf after Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross confirmed he would lodge one at Thursday’s FMQs.
Co-leader Patrick Harvie confirmed the party had made the decision as he spoke to BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday night.
READ MORE: Anas Sarwar to lodge vote of no confidence in Scottish Government
Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, it was put to Slater that Yousaf (below) could be replaced by another SNP member as First Minister should he choose to resign ,with the presenter suggesting Kate Forbes could take over the role as a result of the Greens’ actions.
“I don’t agree with that framing at all,” Slater replied.
“The First Minister was I think, felt obliged to end the Bute House Agreement because he had lost control of the right-wing of his party.
“He had done the maths and realised that he had more rebels than he could cope with so he is being forced by events I expect to move suddenly to the right.
“So the SNP have already moved to the right, they’ve already broken their deal with the progressive Greens and to appease their own Conservative wing, they are moving to the right.
“So whoever is going to be leading the SNP next, I expect, will be moving towards more Conservative, right-wing polices.
“We’ll see the roll back on equalities, roll back on things like income tax, the fairness measures that we’ve been putting in place, we’ll see them roll back and most heartbreakingly on climate and nature measures.”
She added that this is what would be “so upsetting” for young people across Scotland and for future generations.
Slater added that the “dice are still tumbling” and that the party would make decisions “as events arise” when pressed on whether or not she wanted a Holyrood election.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf to 'cancel speech' on independence after confidence vote row
Asked if the Scottish Greens could change their mind on backing the no confidence vote, the co-leader said: “The parliamentary group met yesterday to have this discussion. We decided yesterday that we would not support the First Minister and we would support a vote of no confidence against him but we could have that conversation again.
“Nobody has reached out to us in any way to try and change our minds so we’ll have to see how events develop.”
Stephen Flynn response
The SNP’s Westminster group leader Stephen Flynn (below) also appeared on Good Morning Scotland and called for “cool heads” from MSPs.
When asked about Slater’s comments that Yousaf had “lost control of the right-wing,” Flynn replied: “I mean I’m not entirely sure what that is directly in relation to. I’m not aware of there being particular wings of ideological thought within the SNP.
“We’re all united in our desire to deliver for the people as we’ve done over the course of the last 17 years whether that’s in relation to the health service, whether it’s in relation to the Scottish economy or indeed whether that’s in relation to mitigating, or trying to mitigate, the damage being caused by the cost of living crisis.”
He again reiterated his calls for “calm words” and “cool heads” as well as some “reflection over the weekend” about the consequences of a vote of no confidence and in relation to the possibility of a Holyrood election.
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