Highlands SNP veteran Fergus Ewing opened another front in his battle to end the government’s coalition with the Greens at Holyrood after an invitation to work closer with Tories.
The former government minister reacted on the day Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross made an open invitation to work with SNP “rebels” to bring down the power-sharing deal.
Opponents of the so-called Bute House agreement are furious at support for policies including the ditched deposit return recycling scheme (DRS) fronted by Green government minister Lorna Slater, gender recognition and a proposed ban on fishing off the coast of Scotland.
Mr Ross, in Edinburgh on Thursday, appealed directly to figures such as Mr Ewing, who has voted against the coalition pact and all three of those controversial policies.
‘Put up or shut up’
“I say directly to those would-be rebels that it’s time to put up or shut up,” Mr Ross said.
“If they want to challenge any part of the green policy agenda, they will have the support of Scottish Conservative MSPs.
“And if they want to vote down the Bute House Agreement, they can count on Scottish Conservative votes.”
I have made my opposition to the Bute House agreement crystal clear.
– Fergus Ewing.
Mr Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, said he has worked with all other main parties to oppose policies he dislikes.
He also considers short term let regulations and heat pump plans as evidence of poor decision making.
Asked how he would respond to Mr Ross’s offer, Mr Ewing said he will always vote for what he thinks is right.
“I have made my opposition to the Bute House agreement crystal clear and also voted in Holyrood to remove Minister Slater from office after her lamentable handling of DRS which already has cost business and the taxpayer £86 million – money down the green drain,” he said.
“The Bute House agreement is simply dragging the SNP down by association with the Green party extremists, and because of the seemingly never-ending stream of policies that are hugely unpopular, undeliverable, unaffordable and in the case of DRS, the worst policy I have ever seen brought forward in 24 years service as an MSP in Holyrood,” he added.
The Bute House agreement passed its two-year anniversary last week.
It was struck by Nicola Sturgeon, when she was first minister, putting Patrick Harvie and Ms Slater in government in exchange for policy support.
First Minister Humza Yousaf has publicly supported keeping the coalition deal but has faced criticism from others in the party including his former leadership challenger Kate Forbes.
‘Last thing Scotland needs’
Mr Ross’s comment comes a week before Mr Yousaf is due to set out his new programme for government for the year ahead.
Ross Greer, the Scottish Greens finance spokesman, said: “The last thing Scotland’s public services and economy need is more incompetent Conservative policymaking.
“We know what Tory economics looks like. Selling off public services to the highest bidder, cutting those that are left to the bone and handing out tax breaks to their wealthy friends.
“It’s the same recipe for chaos that has inflicted so much damage over the last 40 years.”
Stewart Hosie, the SNP economy spokesman at Westminster, said voters could not trust a Tory leader who had previously backed Liz Truss’s doomed premiership which “unleashed economic carnage” on Britain.
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