THE Scottish Greens have ruled out an electoral pact with the SNP over climate concerns, despite their common goal of independence
On the closing day of the Green conference in Inverness, delegates overwhelmingly voted to stand alone at the 2021 Holyrood election.
The rejection came despite former co-convener Maggie Chapman, the party’s leading list candidate in the north east, saying a pact with the SNP was “certainly possible”.
She told The Herald “It is not something I would ever want us to rule out.”
However Ariane Burgess, the leading Green candidate for the Highlands and Islands, criticised this weekend’s SNP conference in Aberdeen having events sponsored by BP and Heathrow airport, and accused the other party of "selling out" to oil companies.
Former SNP minister Stewart Stevenson also told a fringe event in Aberdeen that there would be “decades of further oil extraction” from the North Sea, albeit winding down.
Ms Burgess said: “Only the Greens have what it takes to deliver the transformative change that is needed in the face of the climate emergency.
"And if you want any proof, just look at SNP conference that is opening today. Brought to you by Heathrow Airport and BP, one of the biggest polluters in the world ever.
"Yet more proof that the SNP's rhetoric and eye-catching but distant targets are window-dressing, serving only to stave off criticism.
"For all their talk of change, they are the party of the status quo."
Earlier, Green delegates voted to put climate issues at the heart of any negotiations over the Scottish Government Budget, with a motion calling for turning the "rhetoric of a 'climate emergency' into a reality" by moving to a low carbon economy being passed at conference.
Since 2016, the minority SNP administration has relied on support from the Greens to pass its tax and spending plans at Holyrood, with the parking tax among the 2019/20 concessions.
Co-leader Patrick Harvie said the next budget “must recognise the urgency of the climate emergency”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel