THE Scottish Greens and the SNP should set aside differences on the constitution and be open to working with Labour in a new governing Holyrood partnership after the 2026 poll, according to a senior Greens' activist.

Ellie Gomersall described the formation of council administrations along Yes/No lines in the wake of last year's local elections as "an unhealthy way of doing politics and time for it to end".

Her comments come just days after Ross Greer, the constitution spokesman for the Scottish Greens, told the Herald on Sunday that Labour's continued opposition to a second independence referendum would be a "significant barrier" to a Bute House style deal with Anas Sarwar's party post the 2026 election.

The interventions follow a major poll last week suggested while the SNP may still be biggest party at the Holyrood election in three years, it may not have a sufficient number of seats to form a government, even with backing from the Greens.

READ MORE: Ross Greer: No Bute House with Labour if it opposes independence vote

"Following last year’s council elections, only two local authorities formed administrations which defied constitutional alliances, with the LibDems and SNP forming a partnership in Aberdeen, and the SNP and Labour briefly working together in Dumfries and Galloway until Labour terminated the agreement, letting the Tories into power," she said writing in The National today.

"It’s a remarkably unhealthy way of doing politics and it’s time for it to end.

"The matter of independence is one which so many of us feel deeply passionately about but it’s time we all – on all sides of the debate – put an end to the poisonous rhetoric that’s preventing our councils and our Parliament from being able to deliver the best outcomes for the Scottish people. 

"If the SNP and Greens don’t achieve a majority in 2026, it’s clear that co-operation across constitutional lines is going to be essential to ensure a progressive government and to keep the Tories from even the slightest hint of power."

She added: "The SNP and Labour should be natural bedfellows. They’re both social democratic parties on paper but with a fairly broad tent of views among their members, ranging from left-wingers and socialists to right-wing conservatives such as Fergus Ewing and Keir Starmer.

"Of course, the parties have differences which they’d need to put aside or find compromises on – the constitution being one of those. But as I’ve written before, the issue with Labour among so many independence supporters is not their opposition to independence (which is a perfectly respectable position to hold, even if it’s one I disagree with) but their opposition to democracy and allowing the electorate to have our say in a referendum.

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"As a Green, naturally my preferred outcome of any election would be a Green majority government but failing that I would always want to see the most progressive government possible with the electoral calculus available. 

"I’d argue that’s what we probably have right now with the Bute House Agreement but if the SNP don’t recover from their polling slump and that arrangement can’t continue, then a SNP/Labour/Green deal would clearly be more progressive than any other realistic option."

She went on to say three years out from the next Holyrood election, Scottish Labour should "distance themselves from the more right-wing UK Labour Party" and put forward "a truly progressive agenda for Scotland" and work with the SNP and Greens to help implement it. 

"Equally, the SNP and Greens need to be open to positive, constructive engagement from Labour and to work with them where they can, even when they might not otherwise need to...If we want any guarantee of a progressive government after 2026, all three parties need to start working together now while they still have the choice."

The Redfield and Wilton Strategies poll last week found support for the SNP had slumped to its lowest level for more than 12 years in a new Scottish Parliament voting intention survey.

Seat projections based on the survey put Humza Yousaf's party on 40 (down 24), Labour 38 (up 16), Tories 26 (down 5), Lib Dems 15 (up 11) and Greens ten (up two).

If such a result took place on polling day next year Labour and the Lib Dems would together have 53 seats and the SNP and Greens 50. The Greens could then have a key role in a Labour/Lib Dem minority coalition government should an agreement be reached among the parties, putting the SNP and the Conservatives in opposition.

Alternatively, Labour and the Lib Dem could seek a deal with the Conservatives to form a pro-Union majority government with the SNP and Greens in opposition.

In an interview with The Herald on Sunday, Mr Greer, who was one of the Green MSPs who negotiated the Bute House Agreement in 2021 with the SNP, was asked if Labour opposition to a second independence referendum would be a negotiating "red line" to any governing deal with Mr Sarwar's party.

"It would be a significant barrier for us if the Labour party maintained their anti-democratic position when it comes to Scotland deciding its own future," he said.

"I think that would be a pretty significant barrier for us to work with them. If we can't agree on the basic right of the people of this country to determine their own future it becomes hard to envisage how we can agree on a more comprehensive platform for how the country should be run."

Mr Greer also suggested there were wider policy differences other than over the constitution that could prevent the Scottish Greens forming a pact with Labour.

He also pointed to U-turns by Mr Starmer, including rowing back on a pledge to invest £28bn a year in green industries and over North Sea oil and gas exploration.

On a visit to Edinburgh last month Mr Starmer confirmed Labour would "not grant licences to explore new fields" in the North Sea, a momentous shift for a sector which supports 200,000 UK jobs, including 90,000 in Scotland, according to trade body Offshore Energies UK.

But the party insisted it would honour any licences in existence at the time of the next election, which must be held by January 2025. That is likely to include the controversial new Rosebank development west of Shetland.

Mr Greer also criticised Labour for rowing back on a commitment for free school meals for all primary school children and said it was difficult to know what the party "stood for".

Polls have suggested that the Bute House Agreement has benefited the Greens with support rising for the party since 2021. However, the deal has created tensions inside the SNP with opinion split on whether it has been of help to the party.

Labour did not respond to the Herald on Sunday's request for a comment.