Scotland's coalition government is at risk of collapse after the Scottish Greens announced a vote on their partnership with the SNP following a row over climate targets.
Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said today that Scotland is "years behind taking action to reduce emissions" after it dropped its 2030 climate change goals, and admitted he did not know whether the coalition would continue.
The Greens have enjoyed a power-sharing agreement with the SNP - the Bute House Agreement - since August 2021, which gives the latter a majority in the Scottish Parliament when its 63 MSPs are combined with seven from the Greens.
Harvie said the vote on ending the coalition deal, slated for next month, would be the "most important" decision in the history of his party - and warned that backing out would strengthen opponents on climate issues like SNP backbencher Fergus Ewing, who has described the Greens as "hard left extremists who should never be anywhere near government".
Yousaf has expressed confidence in the Greens voting to carry on in the coalition but said the SNP would continue as a minority government if they withdrew
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The upcoming vote heaps even more pressure on Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf in the wake of the imposition of Scotland's controversial hate crime laws and the re-arrest of Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, who is charged with embezzling funds from the party.
Yousaf has expressed confidence in the Greens voting to carry on in the coalition - but said the SNP would continue as a minority government if they withdrew.
With his party polling at near-decade-long lows, Yousaf faces rumours of senior nationalists weighing up his replacement - one insider, speaking to the Herald on Sunday, said: "It's a question now of when he goes, not if."
Speaking to the BBC, Harvie said focusing on targets is not enough, adding: "It's been clear for a long time now that Scotland is not on track to reach that target."
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Harvie said this was a "critical" moment for the future of climate policy in Scotland - which he added was the "reason Greens are in politics in the first place"
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The co-leader continued: "This is a moment that is critical for the future of climate policy in Scotland, which is, you know, the reason Greens are in politics in the first place.
"It's critical to the future of our party as well, and over the next few weeks we have probably the most important decision to make that we’ve ever had to make about the future of our party.
"My worry is that, if we if we walked away at this point, we would decelerate the climate action, we would see the hand strengthened of the likes of Fergus Ewing, backbencher in the SNP now, who’s constantly popping up and having a go at environmental policy and urging the Government to slow down."
But Scottish Conservatives chairman Craig Hoy took aim at both the SNP and Scottish Greens, saying: "PatrickHarvie takes no accountability for his party’s shameful record in Government.
Craig Hoy said Harvie and Greens co-chair Lorna Slater "have spent the last three years pitifully trading environmentalism for nationalism"
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"Both he and [Greens co-leader] Lorna Slater have spent the last three years pitifully trading environmentalism for nationalism to the fury of their members who now want out of this toxically incompetent coalition.
"Humza Yousaf is so weak that he has lost any authority he had, and even after the disaster they've been in Government, it's still the Greens calling the shots!
"If Humza Yousaf had any backbone, he would be pulling the plug himself on this shambolic deal which is harming Scotland's economy and jeopardising our oil and gas industry.
"Instead, he is at the mercy of the Green vote, and the coalition of chaos he inherited from Nicola Sturgeon is now hanging by a thread."