Scottish Greens warn SNP not to take support for granted
The Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie has warned First Minister John Swinney not to take his party's votes for granted to get the SNP budget through the Scottish Parliament.
Speaking at the party’s autumn conference in Greenock, Harvie said the Greens had a responsibility to engage with the process in good faith and honesty.
However, he said that John Swinney knew to his cost that the Greens are the only party to have ever brought down an SNP budget.
The comment is in reference to the 2009 budget which the Greens blocked over a row about a £33m home insulation programme.
Alex Salmond, who died earlier this month aged 69, was first minister at the time while John Swinney was finance secretary.
At Holyrood, the SNP are currently in power, but they are governing as a minority administration.
This means they must rely on the support of other parties to pass legislation.
The Greens were in a power-sharing agreement with the SNP until April, when the then-first minister, Humza Yousaf, kicked the junior party out of government.
Since then, the Scottish government has halted some policies supported by the Greens, including nature restoration funding and a pilot that scrapped peak rail fares.
During his keynote speech, Harvie called for the SNP to reverse their "broken promises".
