Head of news Dale Miller catches up with political editor Alistair Grant after a feisty First Ministers Questions in the Scottish Parliament
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Politics Show.
00:12 We are here to unpick and unwrap
00:14 First Minister's questions.
00:16 And a couple of hours of pretty dramatic developments
00:19 involving the Scottish Greens and the SNP.
00:22 Hamza Yousaf at the center of it.
00:24 Alistair, can you just quickly catch us up
00:26 with what's happened around
00:28 the Bute House agreement this morning?
00:30 - Yeah, so Hamza Yousaf announced this morning
00:33 that the Bute House agreement,
00:35 that cooperation deal between the SNP and the Greens
00:38 has ended, he has brought it to an end.
00:41 People might remember this has been in the news
00:43 quite a lot in recent days.
00:45 There was supposed to be a vote among Green members
00:47 about the future of that cooperation deal.
00:50 In a few weeks time, Hamza Yousaf has got in first
00:53 and ended it.
00:54 So he had a press conference in Bute House
00:56 when he announced this.
00:57 There was a furious reaction from the Green leaders,
01:01 sorry, from Patrick Harvey and Lorna Slater,
01:03 who were, until just this morning,
01:05 also Scottish government ministers,
01:07 accusing Hamza Yousaf of betraying the electorate,
01:10 of being weak, essentially,
01:12 of caving into the kind of reactive elements
01:15 within his own party.
01:17 The anger among the Greens is quite something to behold.
01:22 And I think, at the First Minister's questions today,
01:25 you could see Douglas Ross,
01:26 Scottish Conservative leader and Scottish Labour leader,
01:29 Anna Sarwar, having an absolute field day,
01:31 just bringing up past things that Hamza Yousaf has said
01:34 about the importance of the Bute House agreement.
01:36 When he ran to be SNP leader last year,
01:39 a major part of his platform was continuing that deal
01:41 with the Greens.
01:42 He said it was worth its weight in gold.
01:45 Even in recent days, he's been coming out
01:47 and kind of bigging up the agreement to the media,
01:50 saying that he wants it to continue,
01:52 he thinks it's important for it to continue.
01:54 And now, obviously, he seems to have U-turned on that.
01:57 Douglas Ross, Anna Sarwar,
02:00 simply quoting his own words back at him
02:02 in First Minister's questions,
02:03 I think it was very painful,
02:04 First Minister's questions for Hamza Yousaf.
02:07 And Douglas Ross, crucially,
02:08 I think the most dramatic thing here,
02:10 has said that the Tories will table a vote of no confidence
02:13 in Hamza Yousaf, which would probably go through Parliament
02:16 on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.
02:19 Now, First Minister's questions
02:20 has obviously ended quite recently.
02:24 Since we're recording this,
02:25 we've been outside the chamber doorstepping
02:28 Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal Democrats,
02:31 Scottish Greens, Ash Regan from the Alaba Party
02:34 to see how they would vote in that vote of no confidence.
02:38 Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats
02:40 making it clear that they will back that Tory motion,
02:43 so they will vote in favour of a vote of no confidence
02:45 in Hamza Yousaf.
02:45 Ash Regan saying that she's writing to Hamza Yousaf today,
02:49 and her decision will depend on his answer to her letter
02:53 on various things, including her plans for independence.
02:56 And the Greens very much keeping their powder dry
02:59 at the moment.
03:00 They're meeting this afternoon to discuss
03:03 their approach to this and their approach to votes in general.
03:06 But there's a real anger within the Greens about this.
03:08 So I think they are definitely one to watch.
03:11 I think it'd be a great irony if Hamza Yousaf
03:13 came out today, ended the Bute House Agreement
03:15 in an attempt to get in first before the Greens.
03:17 And that ended up ultimately bringing down his government.
03:22 - Alistair, there was a zinger of a question
03:23 towards the end as well from Patrick Harvie,
03:25 where he asked Hamza who he had most pleased
03:28 with his actions this morning.
03:30 He referenced Douglas Ross.
03:31 He also referenced Alex Salmond as a name,
03:34 and it got some reaction around the chamber.
03:37 How much trouble is Hamza in?
03:39 I think we all thought the general election
03:41 would be his big test.
03:43 It sounds like that test is coming early.
03:46 - I think he's in a lot of trouble.
03:47 I think they're potentially in a lot of trouble.
03:49 We'll see later on.
03:49 By the end of today, we should know the kind of lay
03:51 of the land on this.
03:52 But yeah, I mean, the Greens are absolutely furious.
03:56 You can see that in their public pronouncements.
03:58 You can see it behind the scenes in Hollywood today.
04:01 There's a kind of feverish atmosphere
04:02 as to what could happen.
04:03 I think ultimately, even putting aside
04:07 this vote with no confidence that the Tories say
04:09 they're going to lodge, I think his leadership
04:12 has taken a blow on the back of this.
04:14 It's kind of weakened him.
04:15 Certainly it's weakened his credibility.
04:17 He's someone who, as I say, ran for the S&P leadership
04:20 on a platform of continuing the steal with the Greens.
04:23 He has until very recent days,
04:26 or has in even very recent days,
04:28 been defending it publicly, saying how important it is,
04:30 saying he wants it to continue.
04:32 And then this morning, you turning in that.
04:34 And it seems like, you know, his critics always say
04:36 that he is a leader who has swept along
04:39 in the political current.
04:41 He's unable to get a grip on events.
04:43 He's someone who's just kind of reacting
04:44 to things all the time.
04:45 I don't think the events of recent days
04:47 will have done anything to prove that criticism wrong.
04:51 - You can read out our full coverage
04:54 around what's taken place over recent hours.
04:57 There's analysis from Alice the Grant
04:59 on what this means for the S&P and Humza Yousaf.
05:02 Analysis from David Boll on where this leaves the Greens
05:06 and their co-leaders.
05:07 Also details of that no confidence vote
05:10 that looks like it's very likely to happen.
05:14 And also from Alexander Brown, S&P,
05:19 and he's talking about Stephen Flynn's involvement
05:21 in ditching the Butte House Agreement as well.
05:24 It's all available at scotsman.com.
05:26 Use the politics tab if you cannot find
05:28 any of the articles quickly.
05:30 And please follow us for the rest of the coverage
05:32 over coming hours and days.
05:34 Alistair, thanks for joining us.
05:35 (upbeat music)
05:41 (upbeat music)
05:44 you