Green MSP Maggie Chapman said being in government with the SNP is a “huge learning curve”, as activists consider removing Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater from party leadership roles.
Grassroots members will vote at their party’s annual general meeting online this Thursday over whether to split the pair’s leadership and ministerial roles.
The crucial meeting is being held just before the party’s wider conference in Dundee over the weekend.
We revealed the tension within the party in August following months of frustrations over Green voices being “silenced” on key issues controlled by the SNP-led government.
If agreed, the activists’ proposal would prohibit any active government minister from holding a “major officer position” within the Scottish Greens.
Anyone holding such a position, who is then appointed as a government minister, would be forced to leave their party role by the next general meeting.
‘Frustration’ over arrangement
Speaking to The Stooshie – DC Thomson’s award-winning politics podcast – Ms Chapman admits the party has been “frustrated” by an inability to “say or do things” as they might have if only a party of opposition.
But she said this is “always countered” by the achievements the party has made in government so far.
She noted free bus travel for under-21s, a rent freeze and a £500 million 10-year fund to help people shift from oil and has jobs to renewables in the north-east and Moray.
Mr Harvie and Ms Slater became ministers alongside Nicola Sturgeon in August last year after striking a power-sharing agreement with the SNP at Holyrood.
On Tuesday, an open letter was issued to party members calling for the removal of the “inevitable and unfortunate conflict of interest created by the current arrangement”.
It said: “Scottish Greens should be able to shift debate, express radical views and push for policies that will make the Scottish Government uncomfortable: even if we are part of the government.”
In the podcast interview, being published in full on Friday, Ms Chapman says: “In terms of what we might wish to be more outspoken about, I think there are things that we know we disagree with the SNP on.
“Things like Nato membership, defence policy more generally, and things like so-called green freeports.
“Even though Patrick and Lorna might have been able to speak out against them, the rest of us Green MSPs have been able to and say actually we disagree with the SNP on these positions.”
‘Huge learning curve’
The Green MSP described the last year in government as a “huge learning curve”.
She says the party is still learning how to get the most out of its influence while retaining a “radical opposition approach”.
She adds: “I think one of the things that is really important about the debate we will have on this at conference is it’s an opportunity for us to talk about this as a party.
“One of our party principles is that deliberative and participative approach to democracy and we try and embody that within the party too.
“As a democratic, member-led party, we want to have that debate. We want to understand where those concerns come from.”
The interview will be released on Friday as part of wider coverage of the Scottish Greens’ upcoming conference in Dundee.
The conference will focus on the party’s prospectus for an independent Scotland, along with reviewing justice and defence policies and discussions on transport and housing.
The two-day event, which starts on Saturday, is taking place at the Apex City Quay Hotel.
You can catch up on all our previous Stooshie podcast episodes here.
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