It has been suggested that this article be merged into Bute House Agreement . (Discuss) Proposed since April 2024. |
Date | 25–29 April 2024 |
---|---|
Cause |
|
Motive | To declare no confidence in Humza Yousaf as First Minister, and no confidence in the Scottish Government [1] |
Participants | Conservative, Labour, Green, Liberal Democrat and Alba MSPs |
Outcome |
|
In April 2024, Humza Yousaf, first minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), faced a confidence challenge following his termination of the Bute House Agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens, which meant that Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, co-leaders of the Greens and their only government ministers, were removed from government. [2] This was following changes to landmark climate policy by Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy Màiri McAllan, [3] after which a planned Greens vote on the continuation of the agreement was announced. [4] Facing a motion of confidence in him Yousaf announced his intention to resign as first minister and party leader on 29 April.
The Scottish electoral system is designed to make single-party government difficult to achieve. [5] The Scottish National Party (SNP) has been in power in Scotland since 2007. [6] The Scottish Parliament election in 2021 resulted in a hung parliament with the SNP winning 64 seats, one short of an overall majority. [7] In August 2021 a power-sharing agreement between the government and the Scottish Greens was created to support the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon and the formation of the Third Sturgeon government. This meant that the first Green Party ministers ever in the UK were to be appointed: [8] Patrick Harvie became Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights and Lorna Slater became Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity. [9]
The Bute House Agreement was, despite some policy concessions, popular with the SNP membership, with some 95 per cent voting in favour at the time of the agreement. [10] Some policies were changed to gain the Greens' support, [11] such as their proposal to stop North Sea oil drilling, [12] which some SNP figures, such as Kate Forbes, criticised, alongside their plans to phase out the natural gas industry. [13] The SNP MSP Fergus Ewing, who was later suspended from the SNP group in parliament for a week because of his rebellions, [14] blamed the Greens for the government delaying the duelling of the A9 road, the longest road in Scotland. [15] The controversial Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill resulted in the United Kingdom government using section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 for the first time to block the bill. [16] The Green Party's bottle deposit return scheme was delayed in 2023. [17]
The co-operation deal was defended by MSPs from the SNP and the Greens, including Humza Yousaf, who—mere days before ending the deal—stated that he "really valued the deal" and wished "to keep achieving a lot with the Green Party". [18] The Green MSP Ross Greer spoke of the deal's policy achievements, including "record funding for wildlife and nature", "free bus travel for under-22s", and "the most progressive tax system in the UK". [19] Following Sturgeon's resignation and the subsequent leadership election the Greens decided to stay in government. [20]
Humza Yousaf's leadership had been under scrutiny following the arrest of Peter Murrell on 18 April 2024, amid the ongoing Operation Branchform. [21] [22] On 18 April 2024, Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy Màiri McAllan scrapped climate change targets, [3] causing the Greens to call a vote on whether to continue the power-sharing deal. However, before this vote took place, Yousaf announced the end of the Bute House Agreement on 25 April 2024. [2]
After the termination of the agreement, the Scottish Conservatives called a vote of no confidence against Yousaf, which the Scottish Greens said they would support. [23] [24] Because of the narrow vote margins in the Scottish Parliament, if the vote had taken place, Ash Regan of the Alba Party would have been the sole decider on the vote's result. [25] Alex Salmond, former SNP First Minister and now leader of Alba, called Regan the "most powerful MSP in the Scottish Parliament". [26] Regan, who had left the SNP the year prior, was called "no great loss" by Yousaf at the time of her defection. [27] She sent him her list of demands to secure her support, which included progress on Scottish independence and defending "the rights of women and children". [28]
On 26 April, Yousaf postponed a scheduled speech at the University of Strathclyde on labour strategy in an independent Scotland. [29] The same day he claimed that he had no plan to resign as first minister of Scotland. [30] He claimed the day after that a snap Scottish Parliament election was a possibility. [31] On 28 April, Salmond said that Alba was "prepared to assist" Yousaf in the confidence vote. [32] His demand was a renewed Scottish independence plan. [33] He appeared on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and said that the SNP should return to the "people's priorities" of education, jobs and industry. [34] Yousaf reportedly ruled out any electoral pact. [35] It was Salmond who firstly appointed Yousaf to government: in 2012, as minister for Europe and International Development in the Second Salmond government. [36] Chair of the Alba Party Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh said that an "electoral pact" is not part of negotiations. [37] Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton ruled out Yousaf's offer of talks. [38]
Late on 28 April, it was speculated that Yousaf planned to step down the next day, fearing that he could not survive the no confidence vote against him: he did, announcing that he would resign as both leader of the SNP and first minister of Scotland once his successor has been chosen. [39] In his resignation speech Yousaf reinforced that he believed the vote of no confidence could have resulted in his favour, however he choose to resign instead as he was "not willing to trade [his] values and principles, or do deals with whomever, simply for retaining power". [40] The day after, officials at Holyrood announced that Labour's motion of no confidence would be voted on by MSPs the next day, which would have required the entire Scottish government to resign if it were to be passed. [41] The vote went ahead the next day, ending in favour of the continuation of the current Scottish government, [42] with 58 MSPs – from Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems, and Alba – voting for the motion and 70 – from the SNP and the Greens – voting against. [43]
The Scottish National Party is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party. It has governed Scotland since 2007.
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.
John Ramsay Swinney is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) since May 2024. He previously served as the leader of the SNP from 2000 to 2004 as Leader of the Opposition, and held various roles within the Scottish Cabinet from 2007 to 2023 under First Ministers Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. Swinney was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North Tayside from 1999 to 2011 and, following boundary changes, has been MSP for Perthshire North since 2011. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tayside North from 1997 to 2001.
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.
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.
Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond is a Scottish politician, economist and television host, who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as Leader of the Alba Party since 2021. Salmond was leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. He served as the party's depute leader from 1987 to 1990. Salmond hosted The Alex Salmond Show (2017–2022) on RT UK. He currently hosts Scotland Speaks with Alex Salmond (2023–present).
The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 11 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 served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from March 2023 to May 2024. 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.
The 2014 Scottish National Party leadership election was held to choose the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and First Minister of Scotland, following the resignation of Alex Salmond as first minister and leader. Nicola Sturgeon emerged as the only candidate and was elected unopposed as leader of the SNP.
Ashten Regan is a Scottish politician. She has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Edinburgh Eastern since 2016. Initially elected to parliament for the Scottish National Party (SNP), she defected to the Alba Party. Regan served under First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as the minister for community safety from 2018 until she resigned in 2022 in protest against her government's Gender Recognition Reform bill.
Lorna Slater is a Canadian-born Scottish 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 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.
The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland, founded in February 2021, led by former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond. Salmond launched the party's 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign in March 2021, with the party standing list-only candidates. Two members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK House of Commons defected from the Scottish National Party (SNP) to the Alba Party on 27 March 2021, and member of the Scottish parliament Ash Regan defected on 28 October 2023. Several former SNP MPs also joined the party. To date no Alba Party candidate has been elected at any election.
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 19 May.
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) 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 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 being presented to the electorate of party members. 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. It ended in May 2024 following his resignation amid two votes of no confidence in him and his government.
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.
The 2024 Scottish National Party leadership election took place to choose the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) following the resignation of Humza Yousaf on 29 April 2024, amid a government crisis. Nominations closed on 6 May, with John Swinney emerging as the only candidate and was subsequently elected unopposed as the party's new leader.
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