First Ministers Questions unpicked Thursday April 25 2024 #SNP #GreenParty

The Scotsman

Head of news Dale Miller catches up with political editor Alistair Grant after a feisty First Ministers Questions in the Scottish Parliament

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Politics Show.

00:12 We are here to unpick and unwrap

00:14 First Minister's questions.

00:16 And a couple of hours of pretty dramatic developments

00:19 involving the Scottish Greens and the SNP.

00:22 Hamza Yousaf at the center of it.

00:24 Alistair, can you just quickly catch us up

00:26 with what's happened around

00:28 the Bute House agreement this morning?

00:30 - Yeah, so Hamza Yousaf announced this morning

00:33 that the Bute House agreement,

00:35 that cooperation deal between the SNP and the Greens

00:38 has ended, he has brought it to an end.

00:41 People might remember this has been in the news

00:43 quite a lot in recent days.

00:45 There was supposed to be a vote among Green members

00:47 about the future of that cooperation deal.

00:50 In a few weeks time, Hamza Yousaf has got in first

00:53 and ended it.

00:54 So he had a press conference in Bute House

00:56 when he announced this.

00:57 There was a furious reaction from the Green leaders,

01:01 sorry, from Patrick Harvey and Lorna Slater,

01:03 who were, until just this morning,

01:05 also Scottish government ministers,

01:07 accusing Hamza Yousaf of betraying the electorate,

01:10 of being weak, essentially,

01:12 of caving into the kind of reactive elements

01:15 within his own party.

01:17 The anger among the Greens is quite something to behold.

01:22 And I think, at the First Minister's questions today,

01:25 you could see Douglas Ross,

01:26 Scottish Conservative leader and Scottish Labour leader,

01:29 Anna Sarwar, having an absolute field day,

01:31 just bringing up past things that Hamza Yousaf has said

01:34 about the importance of the Bute House agreement.

01:36 When he ran to be SNP leader last year,

01:39 a major part of his platform was continuing that deal

01:41 with the Greens.

01:42 He said it was worth its weight in gold.

01:45 Even in recent days, he's been coming out

01:47 and kind of bigging up the agreement to the media,

01:50 saying that he wants it to continue,

01:52 he thinks it's important for it to continue.

01:54 And now, obviously, he seems to have U-turned on that.

01:57 Douglas Ross, Anna Sarwar,

02:00 simply quoting his own words back at him

02:02 in First Minister's questions,

02:03 I think it was very painful,

02:04 First Minister's questions for Hamza Yousaf.

02:07 And Douglas Ross, crucially,

02:08 I think the most dramatic thing here,

02:10 has said that the Tories will table a vote of no confidence

02:13 in Hamza Yousaf, which would probably go through Parliament

02:16 on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

02:19 Now, First Minister's questions

02:20 has obviously ended quite recently.

02:24 Since we're recording this,

02:25 we've been outside the chamber doorstepping

02:28 Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal Democrats,

02:31 Scottish Greens, Ash Regan from the Alaba Party

02:34 to see how they would vote in that vote of no confidence.

02:38 Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats

02:40 making it clear that they will back that Tory motion,

02:43 so they will vote in favour of a vote of no confidence

02:45 in Hamza Yousaf.

02:45 Ash Regan saying that she's writing to Hamza Yousaf today,

02:49 and her decision will depend on his answer to her letter

02:53 on various things, including her plans for independence.

02:56 And the Greens very much keeping their powder dry

02:59 at the moment.

03:00 They're meeting this afternoon to discuss

03:03 their approach to this and their approach to votes in general.

03:06 But there's a real anger within the Greens about this.

03:08 So I think they are definitely one to watch.

03:11 I think it'd be a great irony if Hamza Yousaf

03:13 came out today, ended the Bute House Agreement

03:15 in an attempt to get in first before the Greens.

03:17 And that ended up ultimately bringing down his government.

03:22 - Alistair, there was a zinger of a question

03:23 towards the end as well from Patrick Harvie,

03:25 where he asked Hamza who he had most pleased

03:28 with his actions this morning.

03:30 He referenced Douglas Ross.

03:31 He also referenced Alex Salmond as a name,

03:34 and it got some reaction around the chamber.

03:37 How much trouble is Hamza in?

03:39 I think we all thought the general election

03:41 would be his big test.

03:43 It sounds like that test is coming early.

03:46 - I think he's in a lot of trouble.

03:47 I think they're potentially in a lot of trouble.

03:49 We'll see later on.

03:49 By the end of today, we should know the kind of lay

03:51 of the land on this.

03:52 But yeah, I mean, the Greens are absolutely furious.

03:56 You can see that in their public pronouncements.

03:58 You can see it behind the scenes in Hollywood today.

04:01 There's a kind of feverish atmosphere

04:02 as to what could happen.

04:03 I think ultimately, even putting aside

04:07 this vote with no confidence that the Tories say

04:09 they're going to lodge, I think his leadership

04:12 has taken a blow on the back of this.

04:14 It's kind of weakened him.

04:15 Certainly it's weakened his credibility.

04:17 He's someone who, as I say, ran for the S&P leadership

04:20 on a platform of continuing the steal with the Greens.

04:23 He has until very recent days,

04:26 or has in even very recent days,

04:28 been defending it publicly, saying how important it is,

04:30 saying he wants it to continue.

04:32 And then this morning, you turning in that.

04:34 And it seems like, you know, his critics always say

04:36 that he is a leader who has swept along

04:39 in the political current.

04:41 He's unable to get a grip on events.

04:43 He's someone who's just kind of reacting

04:44 to things all the time.

04:45 I don't think the events of recent days

04:47 will have done anything to prove that criticism wrong.

04:51 - You can read out our full coverage

04:54 around what's taken place over recent hours.

04:57 There's analysis from Alice the Grant

04:59 on what this means for the S&P and Humza Yousaf.

05:02 Analysis from David Boll on where this leaves the Greens

05:06 and their co-leaders.

05:07 Also details of that no confidence vote

05:10 that looks like it's very likely to happen.

05:14 And also from Alexander Brown, S&P,

05:19 and he's talking about Stephen Flynn's involvement

05:21 in ditching the Butte House Agreement as well.

05:24 It's all available at scotsman.com.

05:26 Use the politics tab if you cannot find

05:28 any of the articles quickly.

05:30 And please follow us for the rest of the coverage

05:32 over coming hours and days.

05:34 Alistair, thanks for joining us.

05:35 (upbeat music)

05:41 (upbeat music)

05:44 you

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