Humza Yousaf in peril as Greens say they will back no confidence motion

Yousaf stunned allies and opponents on Thursday morning by announcing he was suddenly axing the arrangement with the Greens signed by Nicola Sturgeon in 2021, hailed then as a new era in consensus politics.

The move – quickly denounced by Harvie and Slater as “cowardly” and “weak” – followed mounting anger within the SNP about a host of electorally unpopular policies that Yousaf’s internal critics believe have been forced on the party by the Bute House coalition agreement.

His decision was then rubber-stamped by an emergency cabinet meeting, with Harvie and Slater absent, at 8.30am, triggering a dramatic series of events that culminated in the Greens announcing they would support a Conservative no confidence motion scheduled for next week.

Harvie said the full Scottish Greens parliamentary group had decided unanimously to support the no confidence motion, albeit with a “heavy heart”, adding that Yousaf had chosen to “capitulate” to socially and economically conservative voices in the SNP.

The catalyst for the crisis had been his government’s decision last week to abandon its “world-leading” target to cut Scotland’s carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, a move that provoked an open rebellion by Scottish Green party members.

That rebellion in turn forced Harvie and Slater to agree to an emergency vote by the Scottish Green party on staying in government – a concession that rattled Yousaf and immediately raised questions about the coalition’s viability.