The Scottish National Party (SNP) has ended its power-sharing arrangement with the Scottish Greens, according to sources. The deal, known as the Bute House Agreement, is said to have been terminated after an emergency Cabinet meeting held at Bute House in Edinburgh on Thursday morning. Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf had convened the meeting amid escalating tensions between the SNP, the dominant party in the Scottish Parliament, and the Scottish Greens, their junior partners in the Scottish Government. Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, who held junior ministerial positions under the agreement, were observed departing Bute House before 8:30 AM on Thursday. The termination of the pact will require the SNP to function as a minority administration at Holyrood. The Greens expressed outrage after Scottish Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan announced last week that the Scottish Government would abandon a crucial climate change target. Combined with the decision to suspend the use of puberty blockers for new patients at Glasgow’s sole Scottish gender identity clinic for children, this prompted the Greens to declare last week that they would vote on the power-sharing deal’s future. The pressure over these concerns led the Greens to schedule a party vote on the power-sharing deal’s fate. However, the agreement was terminated before this vote could take place. The agreement, signed in 2021 and named after the official residence of the Scottish First Minister in Edinburgh, marked the first time the Green Party had participated in government in the United Kingdom. When the votes of its MSPs were combined with those of the seven Greens members, it gave the SNP a majority at Holyrood and elevated Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater to junior ministerial positions in the Scottish Government. Its absence would necessitate the SNP’s operation as a minority administration at Holyrood. Prominent SNP members, including former leadership candidate Kate Forbes and party veteran Fergus Ewing, had previously advocated for the deal’s termination. More updates to follow.
SNP-Scottish Greens Power-Sharing Deal Ends
