Slater admits Greens would seek coalition
THE Scottish Greens would like to form a coalition government with the SNP, the party’s co-leader has confirmed.
Lorna Slater said she would ‘absolutely’ accept a ministerial job as part of an election deal with Nicola Sturgeon.
In the last Scottish parliament term, the Greens helped shore up a pro-independence majority, helping the minority SNP Government to pass budget plans every year.
Now it has emerged that the Greens could seek a more formal agreement if Miss Sturgeon is returned as First Minister.
The Greens secured six MSPs at the 2016 election, but polls have indicated that they are set to see a boost in their numbers after the May 6 election.
Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie has previously said that his party wants to ‘be in government in this country’.
Miss Slater said there had been no formal talks with the SNP, but added: ‘Patrick is right. It is something that has worked well in other countries. For example, in New Zealand the Greens are in coalition with Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party.
‘We have big ambitions for the Scottish Green Party. We do want to be a party of government. We absolutely intend to be around the table with Cabinet positions.’
Yesterday, Nicola Miss Sturgeon claimed there had been no discussions between her party and the Scottish Greens.
But she failed to rule out working with them as part of a formal coalition depending on the make-up of the next parliament.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: ‘An SNP-Green coalition government is the stuff of nightmares.
‘Not only would they work together to try to railroad through another divisive referendum, they would throw away tens of thousands of oil and gas jobs in a heartbeat for purely ideological reasons.
‘Businesses are already treated as an afterthought by the SNP. If Patrick Harvie is at the Cabinet table, the damage to Scotland’s economy will be even more catastrophic.’
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I am concentrating on fighting this election and winning as many seats for the SNP as possible.
‘In a sense these are hypothetical questions until the election is over. We worked with the Greens in budget negotiations [in] the parliament that has passed, so I know we can work with them on that kind of basis.’