The SNP has scrapped its powersharing deal with the Scottish Greens.
The Bute House Agreement was dropped by the Scottish Government following an emergency Cabinet meeting at Bute House in Edinburgh on Thursday morning.
Scottish Green Party co-leader Lorna Slater accused the SNP of "political cowardice" in a lengthy statement, saying: “This is an act of political cowardice by the SNP, who are selling out future generations to appease the most reactionary forces in the country.”
The end of the powersharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens comes after an emergency cabinet meeting was held at the First Minister’s official residence on Thursday morning.
Read more around this tumultuous day in Scottish politics:
Speculation over Yousaf's leadership as press conference called
SNP ministers set to end pact with Greens
Humza Yousaf to hold emergency cabinet meeting over row with Greens
Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater were seen to walk out of Bute House before 8.30am. Neither would answer questions from waiting journalists.
Both the SNP and Scottish Greens due to hold press conferences.
The Greens said last week it would hold a vote on the future of the Bute House Agreement in which the party were junior partners to the SNP in government.
The decision followed a Scottish Government announcement ditching a key climate change target and the pause of puberty blockers for new patients attending the only Scottish gender identity clinic for children in Glasgow.
Humza Yousaf was the only candidate to extol the virtues of the Bute House Agreement during his leadership campaign, and gave it his backing earlier this week.
Its collapse has sparked questions over his own leadership — One senior SNP figure told The Herald: "If these reports are true that the BHA is over it will be hard for Humza to carry on.
"He said the BHA was worth its weight in gold."
Under the terms of the Bute House Agreement, The Scottish government and the Scottish Green Party had agreed to work together "to build a green economic recovery from COVID, respond to the climate emergency and create a fairer country".
The pact was signed by then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in August 2021.
It focused on areas of mutual interest and was intended to create a "stable platform to meet the challenges Scotland faces".
It pledged collaboration on the climate emergency, economic recovery, child poverty, the natural environment, energy and the constitution.
The pact has come to an end on one of the biggest days of the week for the Scottish Parliament, with Humza Yousaf due to take First Minister's Questions from oppositions leaders at 12 noon.
The weekly Q&A allows the First Minister to be grilled by MSPs, and this week's session promises to be an extraordinary one in light of today's developments.
Scottish Conservatives chairman Craig Hoy said the scrapping of the Bute House Agreement highlights how “inept” Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf is.
Mr Hoy said: “The collapse of this toxic coalition is an utter humiliation for Humza Yousaf, who hailed it as ‘worth its weight in gold’ and continued to back it to the hilt right until the end.
“The First Minister’s judgment is so poor that he couldn’t see what a malign influence the anti-growth Greens have been in government and his authority so weak that he was bounced into this U-turn by his own MSPs.
“It beggars belief that the Greens were invited into government in the first place – but even more astonishing that Humza Yousaf allowed them to call the shots on issues like abandoning oil and gas, further delays to dualling the A9 and A96, devastating fishing curbs and gender ideology.
“Humza Yousaf’s year as SNP leader has been a disastrous mix of scandals, infighting and policy U-turns. The collapse of the powersharing pact he staked his reputation on is not just humiliating, it highlights once again how inept and out of his depth he is.”
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