FERGUS Ewing has called for SNP members to be allowed a fresh vote on whether to continue working with the Scottish Greens.
It comes after the Greens’ first UK parliamentarian Robin Harper announced his resignation from the party in a letter to Patrick Harvie, stating they had “lost the plot” with the approach to Scottish independence and trans rights.
In August 2021, members of both the SNP and the Scottish Greens voted overwhelmingly to accept the terms of a cooperation agreement which saw the Greens backing the SNP minority Scottish Government on the bulk of its policies.
Ewing, who sat as an MSP alongside Harper, has said the departure from the Greens should “send a message” to First Minister Humza Yousaf about the dangers of working with them.
Calling for a new ballot for SNP members to decide whether or not to continue the Bute House Agreement, Ewing said: “His main charge, which is that his party has become a party of extremists, is spot on.
“The relationship that we had with the Green Party was supported, yes, by an overwhelming majority of our members in 2021, but that was before it was put into practice and before anyone realised the full enormity of dealing with these extremists.
“Perhaps now is the time to re-ballot SNP members.
“I suspect the result would be very different.”
Research by Panelbase for The Times in April found 53% of voters backed the cooperation deal, which gives the Greens two junior ministerial posts in Government.
Across all parties, Panelbase found 33% backed the deal, with 43% opposed and 21% unsure.
The Scottish Greens Party Council unanimously voted to support the election of Yousaf as First Minister and to continue the Bute House Agreement following his leadership election win earlier this year.
In one of his first actions following his selection by members, Yousaf met with the Scottish Greens co-leaders and reaffirmed his commitment to the Bute House Agreement.
Ewing, the former SNP rural affairs secretary, previously called for the end of the power-sharing agreement and dubbed the Greens “wine bar pseudo-intellectuals”.
He wrote in the Scottish Daily Mail in April: "We’ve allied ourselves to a small group of fringe extremists that want to dismantle our economy, put hundreds of thousands on the dole and basically close down rural Scotland."
At the time, Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer said Ewing was "indistinguishable" from the Tories on most issues and "clearly despises" progressive governing.
Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Independece, said last week that the deal would remain in place – despite warnings from Ewing about its impact on a referendum.
Ewing said in a podcast he did not believe independence supporters could win a referendum if one was held in the next few years, because of “extremist” policies, such as gender self-identification, HPMAs and the deposit return scheme.
