Jackson Carlaw: SNP and Green Party coalition would be 'damaging'

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Scotland’s First Minister Ms Sturgeon announced in the run-up to the Holyrood election that, if a majority of pro-independence MSPs were elected, she would take that as a mandate for a second independence referendum. However, her party — the Scottish National Party (SNP) — fell one seat short of a majority when they took just 64 seats. But, as the pro-independence Scottish Greens took eight seats, they threw their support behind the SNP.

Ms Sturgeon boldly told Westminster that, with the SNP and Greens, it was evidently “the will of the people” that another independence referendum should go ahead.

But, as the Greens have pointed out before, they do not consider themselves “nationalists” unlike Ms Sturgeon’s party.

They are instead motivated by environmental concerns and progressive policies which do not alway sit well with SNP strongholds.

Just last month, 5300 members of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) sent an open letter to the First Minister pleading with her not to bow to the Greens’ election proposals.

The Greens had proposed an end to all game management and fishing in Scotland, but the SGA argued that this would put thousands of workers on the dole.

In the open letter, Chairman Alex Hogg explained: “I fully appreciate that this [Green] manifesto is not your party’s own.

“I am aware though, that any coalition requires policy trade-offs in return for budget support.

“I seek at the very least reassurance from you, on behalf of our worried members, that any future coalition will not see the SNP adopt Green policies which will lead to mass redundancies amongst sectors of the traditional rural workforce of Scotland.”

He added that the Green manifesto pledge had a vague alternative which was “entirely un-costed, undefined and will require yet more public investment if they are ever to come to pass at all”.

Mr Hogg claimed this pledge was “causing distress in the minds of people growing fretful over their futures, their children’s education, where they are going to be living and how they are going to be making a wage in five to 10 years’ time”.

He even alleged that job losses could mount to 13,100 — and that’s before including any impact the sheep industry would see.

Mr Hogg added that if these farming industries were removed, “the burden falls on the state at a time when economic recovery is paramount”, and that it would create “crippling burdens” on the public purse.

He concluded: “The Greens’ election literature states that they are looking for a fairer and greener Scotland.

“I question where the fairness lies for the thousands set to lose their jobs and homes, or how ‘just’ their transition will be.”

The Greens replied, and said it was “disappointing” that the SGA was misleading the public over their costed manifesto proposals, after they had proposed to create 6,000 new jobs.

But the Greens have clashed with the SNP in the past over their policies.

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During the campaigns ahead of the 2019 general election, the party questioned whether Ms Sturgeon had actually started to execute Scotland’s transition away from oil and gas, as promised.

Ms Sturgeon had just told Channel 4, “we are in the transition”, and she told BBC Question Time: “We’ve got to have a managed transition, a just transition, and that transition is under way.”

But Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “The First Minister claims that a just transition from oil and gas is under way, but where is the evidence.

“Oil and gas extraction in the North Sea was up five percent in 2018, the last climate target was missed and transport emissions [are] up every year since 2013.”

Shortly before the electorate hit the ballot boxes, Mr Harvie also addressed speculation of a coalition with the SNP — and downplayed the idea.

He said: “If we were asked [to go into coalition], I suspect lots of people in the party would be willing for us to have the conversation but there are really massive issues that I don’t think the SNP are grappling with yet, like the future transition away from fossil fuels, like the land reform agenda that they haven’t taken forward.”

His words hinted at future obstacles ahead in the SNP’s relationship with the Greens.

The situation is also comparable to the dependency former Prime Minister Theresa May had on Northern Ireland’s DUP after the 2017 election.

Although this party supported leaving the EU, these 10 DUP MPs ended up having a significant impact on the initial rounds of Brexit negotiations and helped trigger stalemates in Parliament — Mrs May resigned in 2019.

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