Sturgeon says mandate for Indyref2 now ‘undeniable’
NICOLA STURGEON has claimed her mandate for a new independence referendum is now “undeniable”, as she welcomed the UK’S first Green ministers into government.
The First Minister said the power-sharing pact was “ground-breaking” for Scottish politics, and urged other parties to cooperate more with her Government.
She said colossal issues such as tackling climate change and the recovery from the pandemic meant there was a growing need to “try to do politics differently”.
However, the opposition derided it as a “nationalist coalition” obsessed by the constitution.
Under the five-year deal, Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater are now ministers, while the other five Green MSPS technically remain in opposition.
MSPS voted 69 to 56 to approve the appointments, which will now be confirmed by the Queen.
Ms Sturgeon said a “key strand” of the new arrangement, which stops short of a full coalition, would be a second referendum.
On its first day back after the summer recess, she told Holyrood: “We must ensure that the recovery
is a green and sustainable one, and address with urgency and determination the climate and nature crises which threaten the planet.
“We must, unfortunately, address and mitigate the consequences of Brexit. We must defend our Parliament against UK Government power grabs that are undermining the very principles on which it is founded.
“That is why fulfilling our democratic mandate to let the Scottish people choose our own future is a key strand of this agreement.
“The mandate for that is undeniable – between us, the SNP and the
Greens won 72 of the 129 seats in this Parliament and each one of us was elected on a clear commitment to an independence referendum.”
She said the agreement would make Scotland greener, with investment in public transport, energy efficiency, tree planting, renewables, and green jobs.
Scotland would also become fairer with action on child poverty, a national care service, affordable homes, and rent controls helping tenants, she said.
However the warm, green glow was dimmed by the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg in an interview with BBC Scotland.
The 18-year-old was sceptical of the Snp-green deal, saying: “Of course, there might be some politicians that are slightly less worse than others. That was very mean, but you get the point.
“It’s a hopeful sign that people want something that’s more ‘green’ – whatever ‘green’ means – but to solve this, we need to tackle this at a more systemic approach.”
She also dismissed Ms Sturgeon’s much-repeated boast that Scotland, with its target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2045, is a “world leader” on climate change.
She said it was safe to say “there are no countries – at least in the global north – that are even doing close to what would be needed”.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said the deal between the two pro-independence parties was essentially a “nationalist coalition with one overriding goal – separating Scotland from the United Kingdom”.
He said: “Trying to claim that this is not a coalition, that is quite simply a joke even by SNP standards.”
Mr Ross said the deal had taken priority over the Programme For Government – the statement setting out the Government’s legislative plans for the next 12 months – which is normally announced as soon as MSPS return after the summer recess. It has been delayed a week.
He said: “Yet again a divisive referendum has come first, as it always does with this Government. Once again the SNP have got their priorities all wrong. This is not a deal that works for Scotland. This is a deal that works for Nicola Sturgeon. She failed to get a majority and this deal is a consequence of that.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “This coalition agreement – for that is what it is – is just formalising the agreement from the last Parliament where Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP hammer our public services with cuts and the Greens simply nod it through.”
He added: “This is no new government, this is not a clean start, this is a deal more about the constitution, not the climate. It’s about greater control for Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP, not co-operation.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-hamilton said the deal was “thin gruel for a Green party that until now has characterised itself as radical”, and not a patch on the one secured by Greens in New Zealand.
He said: “This partnership exists first and foremost to ask Westminster for another referendum and then to use its likely refusal to drive yet more grievance at the expense of all other public policy.
“It is not a deal with the climate in mind. After years of missed emissions targets you would think the Scottish Green party might have driven a harder bargain. They have not.”
Green MSP Ross Greer hit back at Tory claims his party and its ministers were “extremist”.
He said: “Only two members of this Parliament have ever allowed an extremist party – a homophobic and misogynistic party – to hold sway over a government – and they’re sitting on the Conservatives’ front bench. Douglas Ross and Stephen Kerr [as MPS] were enthusiastic supporters of their party’s cosy relationship with the DUP.
“Those of us committed to working together in the interests of people and planet will be taking no lessons from the extremist-enablers on the
Tory benches.”
This is not a deal that works for Scotland. This is a deal that works for Nicola Sturgeon