A FORMER Scottish Government minister has attacked the Greens – claiming they would take “ministerial jobs in a Unionist Labour government”.
Alex Neil launched a blistering attack on the Scottish Greens amid a brewing row over the party’s involvement in the Scottish Government in the run up to the General Election.
But the Scottish Greens have hit back at Neil’s comments, saying Labour were “more of an impediment than an ally” to their priorities.
A fresh row over the Scottish Greens’ co-operation deal with the SNP has opened up, with senior party figures in both camps trading blows.
Humza Yousaf said that backing his partners in Government at the upcoming election would be a “wasted vote” with Greens MSP Ross Greer saying it was only his party offering more than “half-measures” in the battle against climate change.
Greer’s words sparked long-standing SNP MSP Fergus Ewing – an outspoken and fierce critic of the Bute House Agreement that handed government jobs to Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater – to issue a fresh attack on the party.
Writing in The Herald, he accused the party of “cosying up to Labour” and called the Bute House Agreement a “Faustian pact with a small group of self-confessed extremists”.
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Former Cabinet secretary Neil waded into the debate on Thursday, picking up on past comments from Slater who said that Labour’s opposition to independence was not a “red line” for her party.
He said: “Why the SNP leadership has tied its coattails to the unprincipled Greens is beyond belief.
“As Lorna Slater demonstrates the Greens’ commitment to independence is skin deep and will be traded in for ministerial jobs in a unionist Labour government.”
Greer replied that the Scottish Government must “use every power currently available to it” to tackle the climate crisis and said this could be achieved while “simultaneously” campaigning for independence.
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He added: “The Scottish Greens are committed to seeing Scotland become a full independent EU member state, giving us the full suite of measures needed to take the action required to protect people and planet.
“Given our decades long record of commitment to the independence cause, the motives of those sowing these divisions really must be questioned.
“Building a fairer, greener Scotland doesn’t happen overnight and we are willing to work with anyone who will put people and planet before profit, although it's sadly quite clear that Labour are more of an impediment than an ally in that cause.”
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