Senior Green politicians Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater could be forced out of their roles under plans by party activists to distance leaders from the SNP government.
The pair became ministers alongside Nicola Sturgeon in August last year after striking a power-sharing agreement with the SNP at Holyrood.
But we can exclusively reveal party members will now be given the opportunity to vote on proposal that would split its leadership from any ministerial roles.
Growing tensions
The bid comes following months of frustrations over Green voices being “silenced” on key issues controlled by the Scottish Government.
It would prohibit any active government minister from holding a “major officer position” within the Scottish Greens.
Any person holding such a position who is then appointed as a government minister would be forced to vacate their party role by the next general meeting.
The motion, which we have seen, states activists hope to “emulate our highly successful sister party in Germany, Alliance90/The Greens, by separating party leadership positions from ministerial offices”.
It adds: “This model allows ministers to focus on the considerable work involved in running government departments.
“The separation of these roles also allows the party’s major officers to openly disagree with the government, where appropriate.
“This gives party members a greater voice on issues of concern, on policies that may be added to the excluded areas of the cooperation agreement and allows party officers to better focus on their constitutional roles.”
Green members to vote
Green members will have the opportunity to vote on the motion on October 13, just days before the party conference in Dundee.
It has been accepted by the standing orders committee so as a constitutional matter will be heard at the party’s annual general meeting.
A party source pointed to a range of issues where it is felt the power-sharing agreement has lessened the ability of leaders to criticise the Scottish Government.
He said: “A good example would be the SQA results.
“When they came out and it was obvious the attainment gap had widened, there was a feeling that our response was muted to non-existent.
“Similarly with the rent freeze amendment tabled by Mercedes Villalba, I think there was concern among Green members that we seem to have lost our voice when it comes to the housing crisis.”
‘Our voices have gone silent’
The activist added: “We scrapped our support for an energy company in Scotland and now our voice seems to have gone pretty silent on that issue.
“I think there is a general concern that we aren’t talking about the cost of living crisis anywhere near as vociferously as we could be if our leaders were perhaps not ministers.”
We reported previously on a row between the Greens and the SNP over a deal with Westminster to introduce two new freeports in Scotland.
Finance spokesperson Ross Greer criticised the £52 million agreement as a “corporate giveaway” despite his party being in government with the SNP.
Mr Greer said the Greens “won’t have anything to do” with the freeports.
A Scottish Greens spokesman said: “All motions will be debated on by party members at conference this October, where we are looking forward to welcoming back attendees in person as well as those participating online.”
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