Humza Yousaf on brink of no confidence vote as power-sharing with Greens falls apart

The deal, which was signed in 2021 and is named after the official residence of the Scottish First Minister in Edinburgh, brought the Green Party into government for the first time anywhere in the UK.

It comes as there were growing tensions between the SNP, which is the largest party at Holyrood, and the Scottish Greens, who are currently their junior partners in the Scottish Government.

The Greens were angered when the Scottish Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan announced last week the Scottish Government was to ditch a key climate change target.

That, combined with the decision to pause the use of puberty blockers for new patients attending the only Scottish gender identity clinic for children in Glasgow, resulted in the Greens saying last week that they would have a vote on the future of the power-sharing deal.

Without the deal, the SNP would need to operate as a minority administration at Holyrood.

Douglas Ross told MSPs at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood his party had said from the start that agreement between the SNP and the Greens was a "coalition of chaos" and that it had now "ended in chaos."

He said: "I can confirm today that on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives I am lodging a vote of no confidence in Humza Yousaf."

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Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater were called to Bute House early this morning and left, before the cabinet meeting, reports The Sun.

A Scottish Greens source said: "Everyone in that chamber is now more concerned with messing with the SNP than passing good law.

"The idea that they can just pivot back to how they governed as a minority gov is just nonsense and will become clear as day immediately."

Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Jackie Baillie said: "This chaotic and incompetent government is falling apart before our eyes while Scots pay the price. Humza Yousaf is too weak to hold his own government together and he is too weak to deliver for Scotland."

Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater said: “This is an act of political cowardice by the SNP, who are selling out future generations to appease the most reactionary forces in the country."

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has now demanded an early Holyrood election. Sarwar told Humza Yousaf: "The people of Scotland didn’t vote of this, First Minister. The people of Scotland didn’t vote for this mess and this chaos. So isn’t it time to end the circus and call an election?"

The SNP leader replied: "Of course the country will be going to the polls, I hope sooner rather than later, in a general election."

The next Holyrood election is not due to take place until May 2026.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: “For our part, the Prime Minister has previously been clear from the off with the new Scottish Government that we will continue to obviously promote a constructive approach with them, with the single aim of jointly delivering for people across the UK and in Scotland.

“As we urged the First Minister when he came into office, there was and is a chance for the Scottish Government to turn their full focus to tackling the real issues that matter to people and their families.

“It is the Prime Minister’s view that people expect both the Scottish Government and the UK Government to have a relentless focus on growing the economy, delivering more jobs and opportunity, as well as enhancing our energy security, and not be distracted by constitutional issues.

“We hope today’s developments do not further distract the Scottish Government and that they take this further opportunity to go back to focusing on the challenges that families and households in Scotland face.”