The Scottish government coalition has collapsed after SNP leader Humza Yousaf ended the so-called Bute House Agreement underpinning it.
The decision came after first minister Mr Yousaf called an emergency meeting of the Scottish cabinet to address growing tensions between the Scottish Greens and the SNP.
Under the Bute House Agreement, the Greens had two MSPs acting as junior ministers in Mr Yousaf’s government.
But he is now believed to have removed Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater from the government, and the SNP is set to act as a minority government going forward.
The Greens were angered when the Scottish Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan announced last week the Scottish Government was to ditch a key climate change target.
That, combined with the decision to pause the use of puberty blockers for new patients attending the only Scottish gender identity clinic for children in Glasgow, resulted in the Greens saying last week that they would have a vote on the future of the powersharing deal.
That vote is expected to take place later on in May – the SNP has now ended the Bute House Agreement.
The Scottish Conservatives will lodge a motion for a vote of no confidence in Mr Yousaf. Leader Douglas Ross told MSPs at first minister’s Questions that his party had said from the start that the Bute House powersharing agreement between the SNP and the Greens was a “coalition of chaos” and that it had now “ended in chaos”.
He said: “I can confirm today that on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives I am lodging a vote of no confidence in Humza Yousaf.”
Mr Yousaf said at a press conference that governing as a minority would be “tough”, but that the SNP has done so for the majority of its time in power.
He promised to continue working with MSPs from across the chamber, and said he has shown “a willingness to work” across the political divide as a minister for several years.
He said: “The challenges of yesterday are not necessarily the challenges of tomorrow. And the SNP needs the flexibility to ensure that we move Scotland forward.
“As such, I am clear that today marks a new beginning for the government.
“I have a clear policy agenda that I wish to take forward… I am working tirelessly to build a strong sustainable economy, which works for everyone to strengthen our NHS and other public services.”
He was quizzed about the statement two days ago that he valued the Bute House Agreement and hoped for it to continue.
Mr Yousaf said: “I stand by what I have said. I value the Bute House Agreement and what it has achieved, no ifs, buts and maybes.
“What this shows is leadership, what it shows is me having the ability to demonstrate leadership.
“I will demonstrate what that means in the coming days and weeks. I think it was the right thing to have done, the Bute House Agreement has served its purpose and time for the SNP to navigate the rest of the parliamentary term as a minority government, something we have done very successfully for a number of years.”
He said the Bute House Agreement had come to a “natural conclusion”.
The deal, which was signed in 2021 and is named after the official residence of the Scottish First Minister in Edinburgh, brought the Green Party into government for the first time anywhere in the UK.
It gave the SNP a majority at Holyrood when the votes of its MSPs were combined with those of the seven Greens members, and also made Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater junior ministers in the Scottish Government.
Without it the SNP will need to operate as a minority administration at Holyrood, holding 63 of the parliament’s 63 seats. The Scottish Tories hold 31 seats, Labour have 22, the Scottish Greens hold 7 and the Liberal Democrats have 4. The collapse comes at an increasingly challenging time for the SNP, with former chief executive Peter Murrell, ex-first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, having been charged in connection with the embezzlement of SNP funds.
Police Scotland confirmed this month that Mr Murrell, who served as the party’s chief executive for 22 years, had been arrested and charged over the investigation. Ms Sturgeon was arrested two months after her husband was first arrested in April last year, while former party treasurer Colin Beattie was also arrested last year. Both were released without charge, pending further investigation.
Ahead of the coalition’s collapse, high-profile figures in the SNP, such as former leadership candidate Kate Forbes and party stalwart Fergus Ewing, have previously called for the deal to be ended.
Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater were seen to walk out of Bute House before 8.30am.
Their party said last week it would hold a vote on the future of the Bute House Agreement in which the Greens were junior partners to the SNP in government.
Ms Slater accused the SNP of “selling out future generations” by walking away from the Bute House Agreement.
Confirming the end of the cooperation agreement she said: “This is an act of political cowardice by the SNP, who are selling out future generations to appease the most reactionary forces in the country.
“They have broken the bonds of trust with members of both parties who have twice chosen the co-operation agreement and climate action over chaos, culture wars and division. They have betrayed the electorate.
“And by ending the agreement in such a weak and thoroughly hopeless way, Humza Yousaf has signalled that when it comes to political cooperation, he can no longer be trusted.
“In just a few weeks time our own members were to have a democratic say on endorsing the co-operation agreement.”
She also called on SNP members who care about the climate, trans rights and independence to switch to the Scottish Greens.
Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy said the scrapping of the Bute House Agreement highlights how “inept” Mr Humza Yousaf is.
Mr Hoy said: “The collapse of this toxic coalition is an utter humiliation for Humza Yousaf, who hailed it as ‘worth its weight in gold’ and continued to back it to the hilt right until the end.
“The First Minister’s judgment is so poor that he couldn’t see what a malign influence the anti-growth Greens have been in government and his authority so weak that he was bounced into this U-turn by his own MSPs.
“It beggars belief that the Greens were invited into government in the first place – but even more astonishing that Humza Yousaf allowed them to call the shots on issues like abandoning oil and gas, further delays to dualling the A9 and A96, devastating fishing curbs and gender ideology.
“Humza Yousaf’s year as SNP leader has been a disastrous mix of scandals, infighting and policy U-turns. The collapse of the powersharing pact he staked his reputation on is not just humiliating, it highlights once again how inept and out of his depth he is.”
