The SNP has scrapped its power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens, according to reports.
The Bute House Agreement was reportedly dropped following an emergency Cabinet meeting at Bute House in Edinburgh earlier this morning.
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 comes as there were growing tensions between the SNP, which is the largest party at Holyrood, and the Scottish Greens, who are currently their junior partners in the Scottish Government.
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf
PA
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 power-sharing deal.
That vote is expected to take place later on in May, but it now appears the SNP could end the Bute House Agreement before that.
Without the deal, the SNP would need to operate as a minority administration at Holyrood.
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Scottish Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan
PA
Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater were called to Bute House early this morning and left, before the cabinet meeting, reports The Sun.
A Scottish Greens source said: “Everyone in that chamber is now more concerned with messing with the SNP than passing good law.
“The idea that they can just pivot back to how they governed as a minority gov is just nonsense and will become clear as day immediately.”
Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Jackie Baillie said: “This chaotic and incompetent government is falling apart before our eyes while Scots pay the price. Humza Yousaf is too weak to hold his own government together and he is too weak to deliver for Scotland.”
Then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (centre) and Scottish Green Party co-leaders Patrick Harvie (left) and Lorna Slater (right) at Bute House, Edinburgh at the signing
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