Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf’s future is in balance after the Scottish Greens threatened to help vote him out of power following a rift with his Scottish National Party (SNP).
Yousaf announced his plan to sever ties with the Scottish Greens earlier on Thursday, after a bitter row over the SNP’s decision to scrap climate targets and a pause on the prescription of puberty blockers for under-18s.
The Scottish Greens have signalled that they will join with Youzaf’s rivals to back a no-confidence motion next week.
The Scottish Conservatives have lodged a motion for a confidence vote. They claimed the first minister had “failed” in his role.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats agreed to back the motion. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told The Times he would support the intervention.
The SNP is now a minority government and will need to win the support of opposition MSPs to get its programme approved by the Scottish Parliament.
If a no-confidence vote was passed on the government, the SNP government would have to resign and appoint a new first minister within 28 days or call an election.
Earlier the first minister held an emergency cabinet meeting at 8.30 am on Thursday to sign off on ending the SNP’s coalition arrangement with the Scottish Greens.
Yousaf had already sacked Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, the Green co-leaders.
After the development, Harvie said that Yousaf’s decision was a big mistake and there will be consequences.
The SNP holds 63 of the 129 seats at Holyrood, two short of an overall majority.
The Scottish Conservatives have 31 seats, Labour 22, Scottish Greens 7, Scottish Liberal Democrat 4, and Alba 1.
If there is a tie, the presiding officer of the parliament would have to back the status quo.
