THE Scottish Greens have cast doubt on whether they will support the Scottish Government’s Budget following John Swinney’s Programme for Government.
The SNP must currently rely upon gaining support for their budget from at least one other party in the Scottish Parliament in order for it to pass (excluding Alba, whose single MSP is not enough to provide a majority).
Since 2016 the Greens have backed the SNP’s budgets, but a senior figure in the party said that the choices made by Swinney in the Programme for Government have thrown that support into doubt.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime programme on Wednesday, Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer said the decision to drop the introduction of free school meals for P6s and P7s damaged the trust once felt between the two parties.
“The difference between having Greens in and out of government is sadly being made pretty stark,” he said.
Discussing the decision to drop the commitment for free school meals for P6s and P7s, he added: “That’s not acting in good faith.
“That was something we had agreed and if we can’t even get previous agreements delivered on how can we possibly trust them to deliver on any new agreement that we would reach later this year?”
Greer said it was clear that the SNP had changed political direction under Swinney.
“The SNP have clearly shifted direction, we saw that today for example with the First Minister very heavily hinting that they’re going to water down the rent control proposals that the Greens brought forward when we were in government.
“That’s now a bill before parliament and the SNP made clear that they’re going to amend that bill.
“These are choices. Don’t get me wrong, the Scottish Government is having to suffer the consequences of UK Governments not funding public services correctly across the country.
“But the Scottish Government still has choices it can make.”
The Greens also expressed concern at the Scottish Government’s decision to favour a UK-wide ban on conversion practices instead of moving forward with their own legislation.
Swinney will be forced to try and patch up the bruised relations between the parties if he is to rely upon their votes in the upcoming Budget.
