THE SCOTTISH Green Party has paused a debate on the future roles of party leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater.
A motion on whether to split the leadership from their ministerial posts in the Scottish Government was put on hold last week with sources claiming the delay was due to technical issues and a packed agenda ahead of conference this weekend.
Insiders have confirmed that members will not be given an opportunity to vote on the issue during the two day party conference in Dundee.
A vote was planned on the issue at last Thursday's AGM but it is understood did not take place because of technical issues. It is expected to be heard at special EGM along with other constitutional motions in the coming weeks.
The bid by party members was seen as evidence of some tensions among the grassroots following the signing of the Bute House Agreement with the SNP.
The pact put the Scottish Greens into government with Nicola Sturgeon's party and handed Mr Harvie and Ms Slater junior ministerial positions allowing them to directly influence policy.
In return, Green MSPs have to support the Scottish Government on key votes including on the budget and on any confidence motions.
If agreed the activists’ proposal would prohibit any active government minister from holding a “major officer position” within the Scottish Greens.
At the opening day of conference their party conference yesterday Scottish Green MSPs Gillian Mackay and Ross Greer fielded questions from members about the party’s ability to challenge the SNP during a question and answer session on the power sharing agreement.
They were asked about a wide range of areas including independence, health, climate change and local government taxation.
The Bute House Agreement, unveiled in August last year, set out a shared policy programme which the SNP and Scottish Greens agreed to make progress on during the current parliament.
It also established six excluded areas - aviation policy, economic growth, that an independent Scotland should become a member of Nato, field sports such as hunting, the legal status and regulation of selling sex and the role of fee-paying independent schools in Scottish education.
MSPs from each party are free to publicly disagree with one another on policies excluded from the co-operation agreement, but not on areas in the deal.
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