SNP rebel Fergus Ewing says party members should vote again on deal with ‘extremist’ Greens

dailyrecord.co.uk:

SNP members should be given the chance to vote again on the party’s deal with the Scottish Greens, senior MSP Fergus Ewing has said.Ewing – a former minister who has become a frequent critic of the SNP’s direction in recent months – described the Greens as “extremists”, telling the Daily Mail that members who had previously voted overwhelmingly for the deal are now aware of its “full enormity”.The Bute House Agreement was signed under Nicola Sturgeon and brought Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater into Government as junior ministers as well as setting out a shared policy platform.On Thursday, the Greens’ first ever MSP Robin Harper announced he was leaving the party.

In a letter to Mr Harvie, he pointed to the party’s stance on transgender rights, Scottish independence, and what he described as its “failure to co-operate” with other bodies, including the UK Government.Addressing Mr Harper’s decision to leave the party, Ewing said: “His main charge, which is that his party has become a party of extremists, is spot on.“The relationship that we had with the Green Party was supported, yes, by an overwhelming majority of our members in 2021.

But that was before it was put into practice and before anyone realised the full enormity of dealing with these extremists.”Ewing went on to say “perhaps now is the time” to have another vote of SNP members, adding: “I suspect the result would be very different.”An SNP spokesman, however, told the newspaper: “Only a matter of months ago, SNP members voted to elect Humza Yousaf as SNP leader after he stood on a platform endorsing the co-operation agreement, which 95% of members voted to support.”To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.