Greens should be kicked out of Scottish Government, Tory deputy leader to say

Humza Yousaf is being challenged to end the SNP’s powersharing agreement with the Scottish Greens at Holyrood – with the Tory deputy leader in Scotland insisting the two Green ministers need to be “kicked out of Government”.

A deal struck by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon led to Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater becoming ministers.

But Meghan Gallacher will use her speech to her party’s conference on Friday to demand that arrangement with the “extreme” Greens be brought to an end.

She will tell the conference, taking place in Aberdeen, that the Bute House Agreement between the two parties “needs ripped up”.

Meghan Gallacher will address her party’s conference on Friday (Andrew Milligan/PA). PA Media

Ms Gallacher will insist: “Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater need to be kicked out of Government.

“The Greens need to be sent back to the extreme fringes of our politics, where they belong.”

Her comments come after veteran MSP Fergus Ewing, who has been suspended by the SNP for voting against Ms Slater in a no confidence vote, also called on the First Minister to put the agreement with the Greens to a fresh vote within the party.

Former SNP leadership candidate Kate Forbes has also called for the deal to be ended.

And Ms Gallacher will say: “It is past time that Humza Yousaf listened to the growing calls across Scotland and even within his own party.”

She will tell Conservatives: “We know that the Greens are anti-business, anti-growth and anti-common sense.

“Whether it is the deposit return scheme or the gender recognition reform bill, they have no clue what people’s priorities are.

“They are bad news for Scotland – and it’s time for the Bute House Agreement to end. It’s not working.”

As well as attacking the Scottish Greens, Ms Gallacher will also blast the SNP, saying their “political obsession” with independence means they have “no vision” when it comes to the health service, education, or the economy.

She will say: “This is a Government that exists for one goal and one goal only – breaking up our country.”

Ms Gallacher will state: “Scotland’s NHS is suffering, as are our schools, economy, roads and justice system.

“Yet the SNP have no vision, no plan, for any of them. The only plans they have produced are plans for their political obsession.

“In less than two years, the SNP have set out 10 plans for an independent Scotland. They are not worth the paper they are written on.”

But Green North East Scotland MSP Maggie Chapman said the Tories must apologise for “the human cost and the pain they have inflicted”.

Ms Chapman, her party’s economy spokesperson at Holyrood, said: “The Tory conference will be an exercise in denial and a celebration of policies that have plunged so many people and families into poverty.

“They have given us a Brexit that they all know is a disaster, costing jobs, hiking prices and curbing our rights to live and travel in 27 other countries.

“They have given us the car crash of Trussonomics, which we are all still paying for. And they have given us a cost-of-living crisis, with bills and inflation hugely outstripping wages.

“If they have any contrition or dignity then they must open with a full and frank apology for the human cost and the pain they have inflicted.”

An SNP spokesperson said: “Scotland has paid a heavy price for 14 years of Tory chaos.

“Liz Truss’s disastrous mini budget, to a Brexit we didn’t vote for and hardline austerity policies that target the most vulnerable, the people of Scotland are forced to deal with the consequences of Tory incompetence.

“No wonder a poll out today shows the Tories are set for their record lowest vote share at the next election while the SNP continues to command trust with Scottish voters.

“Voters have the opportunity to make Scotland Tory free at the upcoming election by voting SNP and securing a brighter future with independence.”

The Scottish Government has also been contacted for comment.