Greens will get opposition funds of £230,000 despite being in government

THE Scottish Greens are set to receive £230,000 of taxpayer funds intended for opposition parties despite being in government with the SNP, it has been confirmed.

Holyrood’s Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone said the Greens would lose £15,686 of so-called Short Money this year, as two of their seven MSPS are ministers.

However the party will still qualify for £9,060 for each of its other five MSPS over the five-year Parliament, a total of £226,500.

In addition, it will get a share of this year’s Short Money in respect of co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater for the time since May’s election, before they became ministers, adding another £2,430 or so to the Greens’ funds.

If the pair remain ministers to the end of the Parliament in 2026, their party will forego £90,000 in Short Money, but still collect £230,000.

The money is intended to help opposition MSPS perform their duties. It is calculated under a 1999 law that lets opposition parties Qualify For Short Money provided they do not have less than a fifth of Government ministers.

However, Ms Johnstone said the Greens will no longer qualify automatically for a leader’s question at FMQS, or be called to speak at the start and close of debates.

The announcement came ahead of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon addressing Parliament on the Snp-green joint government deal, which is intended to be short of a full coalition.

Ms Johnstone said she hoped all MSPS would agree the changes “recognise” the nature of the Co-operation Agreement and would be fair for all parties.

She said the position of the Scottish Greens as the third largest opposition party in the Parliament had been “fundamentally altered” by the power-sharing deal.

In a letter to all MSPS, she said: “The Agreement requires a bespoke response here at Holyrood, one which draws on precedents and practices, is fair to all parties represented in the Parliament, and is commensurate with the requirements of robust parliamentary scrutiny.”

Instead of having a leader’s question in the third slot at FMQS four weeks out of six and a backbench question on one of the other weeks, the Greens will now get a backbench question three weeks out of six, being called at Question 3 in two of the six weeks.

Ms Johnstone, a Green before becoming Presiding Officer in May, also said her old party should lose its opposition debate slots, and Ms Slater and Mr Harvie would, as ministers, be unable to sit on committees.

Tory MSP Stephen Kerr said: “The Scottish Conservatives had strongly opposed the Greens’ attempts to have their cake and eat it. We rejected their efforts to game the system, as they sought to join the Government and pretend to still be an opposition party.

“We welcome this firm but fair decision from the Presiding Officer.

“The Greens had tried to undermine the Scottish Parliament but the Presiding Officer has made sure that will not happen.”