Achi news desk-
The Scottish Greens will decide by the end of next month whether their party remains in the governing agreement with the SNP at Holyrood or withdraws from it and returns to the opposition.
Patrick Harvie said at the weekend that this is the “biggest question” members have faced over the future of their party.
The decision will be made at a special special general meeting (SGM) which was called after more than 100 members demanded one in the wake of the Scottish Government’s announcement last Thursday that it wanted to drop its target to cut carbon emissions by 75 % on 1990. level by 2030.
Mr Harvie, the minister for carbon-free buildings, active travel and tenants’ rights, and his co-leader Lorna Slater, the minister for green skills, the circular economy and biodiversity, want to see the Scottish Greens remain in government under Bute House Agreement with the Society. SNP.
Their argument is that the party can do more to tackle the climate crisis and promote other causes for their party champions while working within the Humza Yousaf administration rather than from the back benches.
Read more:
Unspun | Profile: Can Patrick Harvey weather the latest storm?
For example, they note the removal of peak train ticket prices, introduced as a temporary measure last October, and also to rent “freeze” measures introduced in 2022, and later extended until the end of March this year, which limit rent increases to a. 3% and brought additional protections for tenants against eviction.
Mr Harvie has also pointed to the introduction of the housing bill at Holyrood at the end of March which will allow Scottish ministers to create rent control areas – capping costs for tenants.
Popular among members of the Scottish Greens, the bill will place a duty on local councils to carry out assessments within their areas on the state of the private rental sector, making recommendations to ministers about setting rent controls.
“We have achieved more for people and the planet in the last 32 months than other parties have achieved in decades,” said Ms Slater on Thursday evening.
“The Tories, Labour, the big polluters, greedy corporate interests and right-wing media commentators are so determined to try to get us to fail.
“They fear the progress we have made on making big polluters pay, on rent protection, free bus travel for young people and record levels of spending on climate and nature, and they hate having a pro-independence majority in government at Holyrood.”
Read more:
Unique | Bute House Agreement: Green Members call for ‘transformational’ rail travel
On the other side of the debate, some of those who argue for the party are returning to the backbenches, saying that some of the key achievements of the Scottish Greens at Holyrood were made when they were in opposition and in position to leverage influence over the minority SNP. Government.
They draw attention to the decision of SNP ministers to support free travel on buses for those under 22 years of age.
The policy was one of the Scottish Greens’ key demands in the 2021 budget talks – seven months before the party entered government – and was pushed forward by SNP ministers in exchange for Scottish Greens MLAs votes for the government’s financial plans that year.
Similarly, another key reform pushed by the Greens to allow councils to levy a “tourism tax” on accommodation providers – in a bid to generate more revenue locally – was part of a budget deal agreed with the Greens in 2019.
The BHA’s green skeptics are also now asking whether the measures proposed by the Scottish Government last Thursday to speed up action on climate change are sufficient to achieve the longer term ambition of the country reaching net zero by 2045 .
The new climate change policy package included 19 actions across policy areas including transport and land use.
Green members will look closely at the proposals over the next few weeks to assess how effective they will be and, importantly, what the government’s chances will be of achieving them.
An assessment by the Scottish Parliament’s intelligence unit appeared dubious.
“Many of the proposals in this package appear to have been discussed, proposed or committed to before in one form or another,” said a blog on the plans published yesterday.
“Further detail has been provided in some areas and the commitment to a JTP (Just Transition Plan) in Mossmorran is new, if not completely unexpected.
“However, in relation to transport (Scotland’s most polluting sector), there is a commitment to two new roadmaps, a delivery strategy and a delivery plan. The actual impact of all these commitments to reducing emissions appears uncertain.”
While it’s too early to tell how Green members will vote at next month’s AGM, it would be pretty safe to say that readers should expect a sharpening of the government’s focus on climate action – and perhaps some more announcements by ministers – over the next few weeks.
