The Bute House agreement (BHA) was supposed to stabilise the SNP. Brokered by Nicola Sturgeon in August 2021, the coalition with the Greens at first appeared a masterstroke, allowing the party to burnish its environmental credentials and bolster its “progressive” image, while presenting a united front and pro-independence majority in Holyrood that it believed would strengthen the case for a second referendum. But, in a shock move, Humza Yousaf ripped up the agreement on Thursday morning and fired the Green co-leaders as ministers from his government. The SNP leader now faces a no-confidence motion, which he could well lose. He has promised to fight on and contest the motion, but what was supposed to be a show of strength has ended up exposing his weakness.
Since the deal was first brokered, the culture war has moved on apace. Without Sturgeon at the helm, the party – always a fragile alliance of right and left, progressives and conservatives, fundamentalists and gradualists – has become bitterly divided over the ill-fated gender recognition reform bill and the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act. Many believe its leaders’ fixation with “identity politics” has distracted from more urgent issues such as education, the NHS and child poverty, which they say used to be at the heart of the SNP government’s mission.
