KATE Forbes is “building a particular faction” within the SNP with calls for the governing agreement with the Greens to end, Lorna Slater has said.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Slater – alongside her Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie – said Forbes was “working on internal politics” in the SNP, while First Minister Humza Yousaf has established a “very progressive Cabinet”.
Following the 2021 Holyrood election, the two pro-independence parties agreed to co-operate in areas of mutual agreement, giving Nicola Sturgeon’s government a majority at Holyrood in return for two ministerial roles.
This Bute House Agreement has been the focus of scrutiny from within the SNP group in 2023, with calls from both Forbes and backbencher Fergus Ewing for it to be scrapped.
Forbes narrowly lost out to Yousaf in the SNP leadership contest in March, with the new First Minister agreeing to keep the governing deal with the Greens in place after his victory.
Forbes was approached for comment.
The Green leaders told PA that they did not see any reason for the Bute House Agreement to come to an end before the next Holyrood election.
Slater said: “I think it does show the power of the agreement. Kate Forbes is working on internal politics. She’s trying to build a particular faction.
“She didn’t win the leadership election, Humza did, and Humza has put into place a very progressive Cabinet. In many areas, they align with us, not all.”
The majority of SNP parliamentarians and members back the idea of a stable pro-independence government, she said.
Harvie (above) said: “The commitment from both ourselves and from the SNP is to deliver on everything that’s in that agreement.
“Now some of that is affected for example by UK budget cuts. We have to figure out how to manage that.
“So probably not every dot and comma of the Bute House Agreement will emerge as possible given the scale of those cuts, but we’re committed to delivering on it to the greatest degree possible and to embodying the values that are in it.”
He hailed the agreement as an alternative to the “toxicity” of polarised party politics.
Harvie said the Scottish Government’s Budget had been “really, really tough” but his strategy for decarbonising heating in Scottish buildings had been preserved.
He acknowledged the supply of affordable housing would be “really challenging”, but said Westminster had “savaged” the Scottish Government’s capital budget.
There are currently seven MSPs in the Scottish Green group and 63 in the SNP’s.
Harvie and Slater also said that Green MSP Ross Greer has a “pivotal” role in relations with the SNP, taking part in fortnightly meetings with the Deputy First Minister to stocktake on the agreement.
Harvie said Greer has put together a “coherent package” of requests which occasionally push their colleagues “beyond their comfort zones”.
But there is “good dialogue” between Government ministers and the respective spokespeople in the Green MSP group, he said.
Greer is also chair of the Scottish Greens executive committee. His co-chair, Ellie Gomersall, resigned earlier in December citing “increased factionalism, hostility and toxicity” within the party.
