Greens say Humza Yousaf 'only has himself to blame' | SNP crisis

thank you right let's return to the top story the future of Hamza yussef the Scottish first Minister as Leah just said Sky News understands he's considering resigning as early as today we can speak now to laor State a co-leader of the Scottish green party um Lura thanks so much for for for joining us whether it's of his own decision today or because of a vote of confidence in in the days ahead um has Hamza YF only got himself to blame if he does lose his job yes I think so I think he showed very poor judgment to suddenly collapse a pro-independence majority government when we' worked together really well for two and a half years we'd achieved some great things we've lifted 990,000 children out of poverty in Scotland and we had more great things planned ahead rent controls you know implementing more tenants rights work on the climate and on nature emergency uh and so and he just threw that away all of a sudden have you spoken to him in the last couple of days why do you think did uh throw it away all of a sudden to use your words I think he was under pressure from the sort conservative and reactionary right right wing of his party the S&P has always been a broad you know quite a broad church but Hamza yusf had been leading a proudly progressive government and we were proud to be part of that you know and and one of the few few governments in the world that is not only Cooperative two parties setting aside their differences working together on things that really mattered to us tackling child poverty tackling the climate crisis uh and to suddenly throw away a parliamentary majority a parliamentary majority that was in favor of Independence um because of a pressure from a few you know more conservative backbenchers I I think was a was poor judgment I wonder um whether you're in a moment where it's a sort of be careful what you wish for uh type type scenario what what is your aim um would you like to see a new leader of the S&P and then quickly striking a similar deal to the one that you had in place for the last uh two and a half years or or would you in fact welcome fresh Scottish parliamentary elections I don't think another deal like The Bu house agreement is on the table that took months to negotiate and was ratified by votes within both parties so both party memberships voted on that deal so reassembling something like that after the trust has been lost between the parties I think is is probably unrealistic uh the S&P are still the largest party in Hollywood they have the right to attempt to form the government so what I what I think they will do and what I hope they will do is put forward a candidate for first Minister who can command the confidence of the parliament and then I assume they will continue to govern as a minority party and as the greens have done in past uh governments of that type they you know we would choose to work with them on a case-by casee basis depending on whether we thought their legislation was ambitious enough on the kind of things that are important to us on climate on equalities and so on and there's there's no candidate with within the S&P that you'd be willing to to strike a coalition deal with I need to be clear about that the co the cooperation deal was initiated by Nicholas sturgeon when she was the first Minister she approached us and asked us if we would like to join in a cooperation agreement uh so it would be up to the SNP to approach us uh if they wished to go into such an agreement and some something like that isn't currently on the table um do do you think that new elections would be something that benefit your party that does remain to be seen we certainly have been polling very well in the last couple of years people like what they like what they hear as people become more and more aware of the climate crisis they are uh Keen to see governments do something about it and Keen to see more more greens elected certainly so while it could benefit us as a party I think Scotland would benefit from stable governance uh you know we have do have a lot of challenges on the table and if the S&P are able to put up a candidate that can command a parliamentary majority in terms of supporting their appointment then it is it is their right to do so um you mentioned the aspect that you had you know a pro-independence government enjoying a majority based on the Coalition at what point do you pause and assess all of this and say whoever was right whoever was wrong whoever uh triggered all of this the the people that are benefiting most of all are the non uh independent support supporting parties well that is one of the more disappointing things about the events of last Thursday not only does it you know break apart what had been a very strong pro-independence uh cooperation agreement but it also lets down future Generations on on the climate crisis there there is there is no way we can do anything other than be very very ambitious in getting Scotland back on target to meet its ambitious climate targets and you know we know we're not on that trajectory we know the climate change committee has told us that we're not and without Scottish Greens in the room how on Earth are we going to protect future Generations from the climate emergency

Channel: Sky News

Views: 8,690

Keywords: scotland, yumza, yousaf, sky news, politics, uk news, sky news live, breaking, greens, snp, humza, alba, resignation

Id: unbzfUTVK8Q

Length: 5min 8sec (308 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 29 2024