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The Bute House Agreement, officially the Cooperation Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party Parliamentary Group was a power-sharing agreement between the Scottish National Party (SNP) Scottish Government and the Scottish Greens which was agreed in August 2021 to support the Third Sturgeon government and then was reaffirmed to support the First Yousaf government.
The Agreement detailed the way in which the Scottish Government and the Green Group in Parliament worked together, the appointment of Green ministers, excluded policy areas from the Agreement, confidence and supply and dispute resolution. [1] The agreement was accompanied by a shared policy programme, which sets out in detail where the two decided to collaborate. [2]
On 31 August 2021, the SNP and Scottish Greens entered a power-sharing arrangement which resulted in the appointment of two Green MSPs as junior ministers in the government, delivery of a shared policy platform, and Green support for the government on votes of confidence and supply. [3] [4] There was no agreement on oil and gas exploration, but the government now argued that it had a stronger case for a national independence referendum. [5]
The agreement was a key part of the 2023 SNP leadership election, with candidates Kate Forbes and Ash Regan critical of it, while Humza Yousaf was supportive. [6] Following Yousaf's victory, he initially maintained the agreement during his first ministry. On 25 April 2024, following a meeting at Bute House, it was decided by First Minister Yousaf that the power sharing agreement would come to an end with immediate effect. [7]
Following the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, the SNP won the largest amount of seats but fell short of an overall majority. As a result of this, then SNP leader Alex Salmond sought to form a coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats. When those talks failed, the SNP chose to form a one-party minority government. The Scottish Greens signed an agreement where the Greens supported SNP ministerial appointments, but did not offer support for any confidence or budget votes ("confidence and supply"). [8] [9] The draft agreement was unanimously endorsed by the SNP's national executive committee. [10]
Following the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, the SNP had once again formed a minority administration. The Scottish Greens supported the SNP in a confidence and supply arrangement which saw them backing budgets by the party and voting with the party on other such votes as the motions of no confidence in First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Deputy First Minister John Swinney which both failed to pass in 2021 as a result of their backing.
During the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, co-leader of the Scottish Greens Patrick Harvie indicated a "willing to have conversation" with the largest party about entering government. [11]
On 20 August 2021, following two months of negotiations, the SNP and the Greens announced a new power-sharing agreement. [12] [13] [14] While not an official coalition, for the first time in Scottish and UK history it offered the Greens two ministerial posts. [15] [16] [17]
The Scottish Greens required both the majority of its members and a two-thirds majority of its party council to approve of the agreement in a vote before it could be enacted, both of which were achieved. [18] [19] [20]
The agreement is based on the co-operation agreement between the Labour Party and the Green Party in New Zealand, reached in November 2020. [21]
Academic Professor Nicola McEwen suggested that the agreement "sometimes pushes [the SNP] further" particularly on climate, social and fair work policy. [22] She also argues that the two parties had already converged on many issues over the preceding decade. Some commentators on the left praised the agreement for its commitments to railway decarbonisation, rent controls and a just transition fund for the North East of Scotland. [23] Outside the parties, some commentators thought the agreement was too radical and argued that the Scottish Greens are "dangerous, extremist influence on [the] government" and it was condemned by the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour [24] [25] [26]
Announcing the deal, Scottish Greens co-leader said that he hoped that party members would see it as an 'extraordinary opportunity' for the party. [27] Former co-convenor Robin Harper called the agreement "disappointing". [28] Inside the party, other critics included Edinburgh councillor Chas Booth who felt the agreement did not do enough for local services, while Adam Ramsay, writing in openDemocracy worried the agreement " few... ideas [that] mean picking real fights with people with much power [29] [30] However other members welcomed the chance to influence government policy.
While not an official coalition, the parties produced a shared policy programme which only excludes six policy areas. [31] [32] This has led to some opposition parties labelling it as a coalition despite not formally being so. [33]
As part of the agreement, the two Scottish Green co-leaders were appointed to ministerial posts. [34] Green MSP Ross Greer is also understood to have an important role in maintaining relations with the Scottish Government and the Green group, and therefore meets with the Deputy First Minister of Scotland fortnightly. [35]
Green Ministers | Term start | Term end | Government | |||
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Portrait | Name | Portrait | Name | |||
Patrick Harvie Co-leader of the Scottish Greens [lower-alpha 1] (2008–present) MSP for Glasgow (2003–present) Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights (2021–2024) | Lorna Slater Co-leader of the Scottish Greens (2019–present) MSP for Lothian (2021–present) Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity (2021–2024) | 31 August 2021 | 25 April 2024 | Third Sturgeon government |
The cooperation agreement details how the Scottish Government and Green group will work together on matters where both agree. It commits the Government to consulting the Green group in developing legislation which in turn the Green group commit to supporting, bar excluded matters. [36] The parties also agree to a 'no surprises' approach to parliamentary business, meaning they will talk to one another about what they do in the Scottish Parliament, and provides for the appointment of two Green MSPs as ministers. [37]
It also details oversight, and establishes that: [37] [36]
The agreement details a dispute resolution process to resolve any concerns which arise. [38] Should the First Minister, Deputy First Minister and Co-leaders of the Scottish Greens not be able to come to an agreement, the matter may be added to the excluded matters list.
The parties agreed a common policy programme, which was reaffirmed under the Yousaf government in its policy prospectus. [39] It covers several topics, including: climate change, economic recovery, child poverty, the environment, energy and the constitution.
The agreement contains a commitment to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence before 2026, and if possible by the end of 2023. [21] [40] The Alba Party criticised the agreement for a lack of urgency. [41]
The agreement will see both parties pledge for an increase investment in active travel and public transport, enhancing tenants' rights, a ten-year £500m Just Transition and establishing a National Care Service. [42] [43]
Housing-related measures in the agreement include the creation of a new housing regulator, greater restrictions on winter evictions and a commitment to implementing a system of rent controls by the end of 2025. [44] Harvie credited tenants' union Living Rent with having "created the political space" for the rent control proposals. [45]
Six matters are excluded from the Bute House Agreement, meaning the Scottish Greens are free to vote against the Scottish Government on these matters, and the Government is free to seek votes from other parties on these issues. These matters (except where mentioned in the agreement) include: [46]
This was illustrated in practice when the Scottish Greens opposed the Scottish Government on the establishment of freeports in Scotland, where the party's MSP Ross Greer voted against it in Committee. [47] [48] [49]
Several key parts of the agreement have been implemented. Soon after the Green ministers took office, Patrick Harvie launched the Heat in Buildings strategy as well as introducing and passing the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 to aid renters. [50] [51] There was also legislation passed to reduced fox hunting and reform gender recognition, although the latter was vetoed by the UK government. [52] [53] [54] Both years budgets were supported by both parties with little dissent internally and Humza Yousaf's nomination as First Minister was passed with both parties support. [55] [56] [57] [58]
However, the agreement's policies most associated with the Scottish Greens faced significant challenges. [59] Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme, which was spearheaded by co-leader and circularity minister Lorna Slater, was delayed until at least 2025 as a result of the UK Government blocking the inclusion of glass bottles in the scheme. [60] [61] A commitment to protect 10% of Scotland's seas as Highly Protected Marine Areas was also dropped, and there was disagreement between the SNP and Scottish Greens over a pledge from Humza Yousaf of a council tax freeze. [62] [63] [64]
Despite this, both critics and supporters of the Scottish Greens role in government agree that the agreement has allowed the party to have a lot of influence on the Scottish government. [65] [66]
We will only vote for the SNP’s new Leader to become First Minister if... they respect and share our values of equality and environmentalism. [...] These are fundamental issues for us. They are non-negotiable.
Co-leader Lorna Slater,speaking at the party's 2023 Spring Conference. [67]
On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned from the role of SNP leader and First Minister, this triggered a leadership election. A key issue in the following leadership campaign became around the continuation of the power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens, with Humza Yousaf backing it, but Kate Forbes and Ash Regan criticising it. Forbes and Regan both suggested they would not be "afraid" of governing without the Scottish Greens. [68] [69]
At the party's spring conference, Scottish Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater declared that while they had "so much more to deliver" in government, they would not do so at "any cost". [70] [71] [72] The party further stated that it would not endorse a SNP leader who did not follow "progressive values". [6] These comments were widely interpreted as meaning that the Scottish Greens would not support a government led by Forbes or Regan. [73] [74] This speculation was later confirmed by Harvie, stating that due to Forbes positions "[the power-sharing agreement] would need to be ended". [75]
After the election of Humza Yousaf as Leader of the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Green Party National Council unanimously voted to direct its MSPs to vote for Yousaf to become First Minister and continue their power-sharing agreement. [76] [77] The party's co-leaders continue to serve as ministers in the Yousaf government.
After the SNP leadership election, Forbes and Regan continued to advocate for the end of the Bute House Agreement. [78] [79] In April 2022, it was reported that 15 SNP MSPs who backed Forbes' leadership campaign are planning to challenge key Bute House Agreement policies. [80] [35] Former SNP Minister Fergus Ewing criticised the agreement's policies advocated from the Scottish Greens like deposit return scheme, dismissing the party as "a small group of fringe extremists". [81]
In October 2023, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie, commented that the critics of the Bute House Agreement in the SNP needed to reflect on the "toxicity" of the experience of minority government, and consider if they wished to return to it. [75] Following the announcement by Màiri McAllan that Scotland would not see a 75% percent reduction in emissions by 2030 an extraordinary general meeting was called by Scottish Green Party members to discuss the future of the agreement.
On 25 April 2024, following a meeting at Bute House, First Minister Humza Yousaf stated his intention to terminate the agreement with immediate effect. He hosted a press conference at Bute House where he stated that the agreement had served its purpose and it was decided that the power sharing agreement would come to an end. [82] Several pro-independence figures including SNP MSP Fergus Ewing and Alba Party MSP Ash Regan, welcomed the end of the Bute House Agreement, and "the return to competent government".
The topic of the termination of the Bute House Agreement was the key subject at the First Minister's Questions session held that day with Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Alex Cole-Hamilton welcomed the termination but strongly criticised and questioned Yousaf's ability as First Minister following the termination of the agreement. Following First Minister's Questions, the Scottish Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater held a press conference where in which they stated that the decision from the SNP government to terminate the Bute House Agreement was "an act of political cowardice" and "sold out for future generations" before accusing the SNP leadership of appeasing the right-wing section of the party. [83]
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross announced to the Scottish Parliament that he had lodged a motion of no confidence in Yousaf following the termination of the agreement, having stated that the Scottish Greens should have had no place in government. It was later announced that Scottish Labour, the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens would back the motion brought forward. [84] The earliest a vote can be held is 1 May 2024. [85]
The Scottish National Party is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party. The party holds 63 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 43 out of the 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons in Westminster. It has 453 local councillors of 1,227.
The Scottish Greens are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 2022 local elections, the party sits on 13 of the 32 Scottish local councils, with a total of 36 councillors. They held two ministerial posts in the first Yousaf government following a power-sharing agreement with the SNP from August 2021 until the end of the Bute House Agreement in April 2024, marking the first time Green Party politicians formed part of a government in the UK.
The politics of Scotland operate within the constitution of the United Kingdom, of which Scotland is a country. Scotland is a democracy, being represented in both the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament of the United Kingdom since the Scotland Act 1998. Most executive power is exercised by the Scottish Government, led by the First Minister of Scotland, the head of government in a multi-party system. The judiciary of Scotland, dealing with Scots law, is independent of the legislature and the Scottish Government. Scots law is primarily determined by the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government shares some executive powers with the Scotland Office, a British government department led by the Secretary of State for Scotland.
Fergus Stewart Ewing is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism from 2016 to 2021, having previously held two junior ministerial posts. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, representing Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber until 2011, and then its successor seat Inverness and Nairn.
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Robin Charles Moreton Harper, is a Scottish politician, who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothians region (1999–2011). He was co-convener of the Scottish Greens (2004–2008). Harper became an MSP in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the first ever elected Green parliamentarian in the United Kingdom.
In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) is a left social democratic political party which campaigns for Scottish independence. The SNP has controlled Scotland's devolved legislature since the 2007 election as a minority government, and were a majority government from the 2011 election and have been a minority government, since the 2016 election.
Patrick Harvie is a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights from 2021 to 2024. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and is one of the first Green politicians in the UK to serve as a government minister. Harvie has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region since 2003.
Scottish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that Scotland should be a republic; the nation is currently a monarchy as part of the United Kingdom. Republicanism is associated with Scottish nationalism and the Scottish independence movement, but also with British republicanism and the movement for federalism in the United Kingdom.
The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The election was held alongside the Senedd election, English local elections, London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.
Humza Haroon Yousaf is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) since March 2023. He served under his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon as justice secretary from 2018 to 2021 and then as health secretary from 2021 to 2023. He has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow Pollok since 2016, having previously been a regional MSP for Glasgow from 2011 to 2016.
Lorna Slater is a Scottish-Canadian politician, who served as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity in the Scottish Government from 2021 to 2024. She has served as co-leader of the Scottish Greens alongside Patrick Harvie since 2019, and who were the first Green politicians in the UK to serve as government ministers. Slater has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region since 2021.
The next Scottish Parliament election will be held no later than Thursday 7 May 2026 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It will be the seventh general election since the devolved parliament was established in 1999.
The 6th Scottish Parliament was elected at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. It was opened with the Escort to the Crown of Scotland Parade and Speech from the Throne on 2 October 2021.
Nicola Sturgeon formed the third Sturgeon government following her Scottish National Party's victory in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Sturgeon was nominated by a vote of the 6th Scottish Parliament for appointment to the post of First Minister on 18 May 2021 and announced the formation of a new Scottish National Party minority government on 20 May.
The 2023 Scottish National Party leadership election took place in February and March 2023 to choose the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) to succeed Nicola Sturgeon, who announced her resignation on 15 February. Nominations closed on 24 February 2023 with three candidates: Kate Forbes, Ash Regan, and Humza Yousaf. Yousaf was elected the new leader on 27 March with 48.2% of first preference votes and 52.1% of the vote after third-placed candidate Regan's second preferences were redistributed. Yousaf was elected as the First Minister of Scotland on 28 March 2023.
Humza Yousaf's term as first minister of Scotland began on 29 March 2023 when he was formally sworn into office at the Court of Session. Yousaf's election as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) followed Nicola Sturgeon's announcement on 15 February that she would resign as leader and first minister.
Humza Yousaf formed the first Yousaf government on 29 March 2023 following his appointment as first minister of Scotland at the Court of Session. It followed the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on 15 February, triggering a leadership contest that Yousaf won.
The Scottish Greens is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in Scotland that was founded in 1990.
Humza Yousaf moved to form the Second Yousaf government on 25 April 2024. It followed his dissolution of the Scottish National Party's power sharing agreement with the Scottish Green Party.