Budget: No retreat from record climate investment
By Democrat reporter
The SNP must commit to continuing the record level of climate and nature investment previously delivered by the Scottish Greens if they are to get the support of Green MSPs for the forthcoming Budget, says the party’s finance spokesperson, Ross Greer MSP.
In giving the keynote opening speech of the Scottish Green conference at the Beacon theatre in Greenock, Mr Greer insisted that there must be no going back from the £4.7 billion that his party secured for climate and nature in this year’s budget. He insisted that this sum was just the start of what is needed to meet the scale of the crisis.
Addressing the party’s conference, Mr Greer said: “When the Greens were in Government we delivered a huge escalation in Scottish Government action for our environment. We secured a record £4.7 billion annually for climate and nature programmes this year alone.
“Today we are making clear to the SNP that if they want our support for the next budget there can be no going back on that record level of support. £4.7 billion is the very minimum that our planet needs at this time of crisis.”
SNP must rebuild trust with Greens ahead of Budget, warns Harvie
Dumbarton man Patrick Harvie, pictured with Lorna Slater, who co-leads the Scottish Greens alongside Lorna Slater, said the SNP broke his party’s trust by ending the Bute House Agreement earlier this year.
He maintains that the SNP must rebuild its trust with the Scottish Greens if the two parties are to work together again.
Mr Harvie, who co-leads the Scottish Greens alongside Lorna Slater, said the SNP broke his party’s trust by ending the Bute House Agreement earlier this year.
He told the PA news agency that relations then fractured further following the SNP’s decision to scrap a number of policies championed by the Greens.
The Scottish Government recently announced a U-turn on a scheme for free bus travel for asylum-seekers and also axed a pilot that scrapped peak rail fares.
Mr Harvie said he does not want to agree to measures that the SNP later abandons. big question of trust for the Scottish Government and for the Finance Secretary,” he said.
“The last six months or so have not been good.
“They’ve broken trust, not just by ending the Bute House Agreement, but then by undermining and unravelling some of the policies that they had already committed to.
“Particularly in the area of net zero, the biggest investment in climate and nature ever, while the Greens were part of the Government, and a lot of that then rode back with in-year budget changes.
“So there’s a question of trust. How can any political party really believe in what’s put on the table in Budget talks?”
Mr Harvie said the Scottish Parliament is at its best when political parties work together – but that relies on a basis of trust.
“That trust has been damaged this year and needs to be rebuilt,” he said.
Ms Slater agreed that her party is questioning whether it can rely on the Scottish Government to follow through on any commitments made during Budget negotiations.
She said: “What we’ve seen this year is Budget commitments that the Greens won last year appeared to be the first things that were cut in the middle of the year when the SNP found themselves in financial difficulty.
“We can’t in good conscience vote for a Budget if we think all of the things we negotiated for are going to get cut halfway through the year.
“The SNP need to convince us and build trust with us that they will follow through on what they promise.”
Mr Harvie also criticised a decision by the Scottish Government to withhold any ban on conversion therapy until the UK Government unveils its own plans.
Describing the practice as “a form of torture and abuse”, he said: “I can understand why at one level [the Scottish Government] might think that a single, UK-wide approach is attractive but given the state of the Labour Party on some of these issues, I have very little confidence that they’re going to come forward with a comprehensive ban that is actually needed.
“I think it would be far better if the Scottish Government proceeds with its own Bill and then maybe withdraw that if it turns out not to be needed if the UK Bill is as good as we need it to be.
“But I’ve got very little confidence that that’s going to be the case.”