By Ashley Cowburn & Lizzy Buchan
Scotland's First Minister is facing a knife-edge no-confidence vote after scrapping the power-sharing deal that gave the SNP a majority.
First Minister Humza Yousaf called time on the agreement with the Scottish Greens and fired co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie from their ministerial roles in a major shake-up. He told a press conference at Bute House that the deal, first agreed in 2021 by then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, had "served its purpose".
But the SNP leader has been left fighting for his political life after the furious Greens said they would join opposition parties voting against him in a confidence vote. Ms Slater said: "We no longer have confidence in a progressive Government in Scotland doing the right thing for climate and nature."
Of Scotland's 129 Holyrood seats, the SNP hold 63, the Greens have seven, the Scottish Conservatives have 31 and Labour have 22. As the SNP are two seats short of a majority, Mr Yousaf's fate has effectively been left in the hands of his former leadership rival Ash Regan, who defected to Alex Salmond's Alba party.
The vote is not binding but it would be a hammer blow to Mr Yousaf's authority and raise serious questions over whether he can remain in post. Mr Yousaf warned Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross that his party would be "judged very poorly" for playing "political games".
"If he wants to put our record and his party's record on the line, let's do that," he told MSPs. "There's a general election coming this year and I can guarantee you the electorate will give the Conservative Party an almighty thumping, show them the door, and they deserve nothing less."
Mr Ross said: "He is a failed First Minister. He is focused on the wrong priorities for Scotland. He has governed in the SNP's interests and not in Scotland's interests. He is unfit for office."
Tensions had ratcheted up between the two pro-independence parties after the SNP abandoned climate change targets last week and paused puberty blockers for new patients attending the only Scottish gender identity clinic for children in Glasgow.
The Greens had been preparing to vote on the future of the Bute House Agreement, in which the party were junior partners to the SNP in the Scottish Government. But Mr Yousaf unilaterally pulled the plug yesterday morning, meaning the SNP will now have to govern as a minority administration, making it more difficult to push through key laws.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said: "It's chaotic, it's divided. And now you've got a Westminster Government that is characterised by chaos, a Scottish government that is characterised by chaos.
"In the meantime, there's despair by people of Scotland, about the delivery, their public services, the performance of the Scottish Government. And in the end, there's only one way out of two chaotic governments, one in Westminster one is Scotland, that's a general election, turn the page and usher in a fresh start."
Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: "This chaotic and incompetent Government is falling apart before our eyes. Humza Yousaf is too weak to hold his own Government together and he is too weak to deliver for Scotland."
