THE Scottish Government must be clear it “does not share the values” of controversial tycoon Brian Souter, Patrick Harvie has warned.
It comes after Humza Yousaf said he had an “upfront and honest” conversation with Souter after it was revealed the businessman was approached to arrange a dinner with business leaders in Edinburgh last summer.
Souter previously pushed to keep Section 28 in place in the early 2000s – a policy introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s government which prohibited the “promotion of sexuality” by local authorities, essentially banning teachers from discussing gay rights.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Harvie said: “The kind of socially conservative Scotland that he [Souter] might wish he lives in, that Scotland does not exist.”
On the meeting of business leaders, Harvie said he “would have been genuinely worried if this was something about courting party membership”.
He continued: “If it’s just about involvement in a government business event – you don’t have to insist that someone supports your politics in order to take part.
“But what has to be really, really clear is that not just my party, but the Scottish Government, does not share the values of Brian Souter. That needs to be made very, very explicit.”
MSPs voted to scrap the Section 28 clause in June 2000 and Souter said in a statement at the time: “I believe the fight has been very worthwhile and it is good to see marriage placed at the centre of statutory guidance for future generations of Scots.”
Harvie added: “I went into politics on the back of the vile, homophobic campaign of bigotry and prejudice that he funded.
“It was a deeply dishonest campaign and a deeply harmful one. I was a youth worker in Glasgow at the time and I had to walk to work past his billboards, that he had paid for, saying ‘protect our children’. And that meant from people like me.
“I worked with young people who were having phrases like Keep the Clause used against them as playground bullying taunts while they were being harassed in school.
“It was the kind of legislation that the civilised world now condemns Russia for. If those are his values, we need to be clear that the Scottish Government rejects those values.”
Speaking to broadcasters on Friday, Yousaf (below) said that Souter’s “social conservatism” is “very different to my socially liberal views”.
“But this is about reconnecting with people who have experience in business and Brian is one of those individuals,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “Ministers routinely engage with a wide range of business leaders from a wide range of backgrounds with a wide range of experience and views as a normal part of government.
“Calling upon their expertise is vital to development of policy, understanding business needs and how to effectively grow our economy.”
