News / Politics

Scottish Green Party downplays prospect of post-election coalition with SNP

Sunday, 18 April 2021 3:13 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 11 May 2021 8:37 AM ]

Lorna Slater (L) and Patrick Harvie (R) are co-leaders of the Scottish Green Party

The Scottish Green Party has appeared to rule out a post-election coalition with the Scottish National Party (SNP), citing the latter’s allegedly inadequate commitment to tackling climate change and other environmental issues.

There is already an unofficial alliance between the SNP and the Greens in the run-up to the Scottish Parliamentary election scheduled for May 06, as both parties support Scottish independence.

But the Scottish Green Party’s co-leader, Lorna Slater, has said there is a “huge amount of distance” between her party and the SNP on key policy areas.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Show, the Canadian-born Slater claimed the SNP are not “ambitious enough” on climate change as they are still intent on “maximum” oil and gas extraction from the North Sea.

By contrast, Slater claimed the Greens are talking about “actually tackling the climate emergency by driving emissions down to zero as quickly as possible”.

On the Green Party’s attitude and approach towards Scottish independence, Slater appeared to prioritize action on climate change over the quest for Scottish statehood.

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Slater described the highly emotional struggle for Scottish independence as just “one piece of the puzzle for tackling climate change and building a fairer and greener Scotland”.

"Yes, of course we think independence would help us to do that - but it is only part of it”, she added.

While Slater expressed support for the SNP’s demand for a referendum on independence, she qualified that by boasting of her party’s 100-page manifesto which is focused on a “fair and green recovery from the [Covid-19] pandemic”, and not Scottish statehood.

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