Greens MSP swerves question of confidence in party leaders

Greens MSP Maggie Chapman sidestepped a question of confidence in her own party leaders a week after they were ditched from the Scottish Government.

The North East regional MSP was directly asked if she supported Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater as co-conveners.

“As I’ve said, our party is a party of democracy,” she said in an interview on The Stooshie, the politics podcast from the Press and Journal.

“Both Patrick and Lorna were elected by our party members to be co-leaders of the party.

“Until they are defeated or they stand down, they remain our party leaders, of course they do.”

The party executive were scheduled to meet this evening where discussions will cover internal party matters.

There are “ongoing discussions” about what happened with the ending of the Bute House Agreement, she told The Stooshie. Talks will identify future options.

“From small interest groups to branches to national party councils and execs, there are ongoing discussions, as you would expect given the change in how we work with the Scottish Government,” she said.

Mr Harvie and Ms Slater were furious at being dropped from the SNPGreen deal last week.

The party refused to prop up the minority government under Humza Yousaf any more.

That sparked a collapse in authority and Mr Yousaf ’s decision to quit.

Green party insiders say the mood is reflective in the party since the Bute House Agreement was scrapped, but there is no clamour to change the leadership.

Mr Harvie had said an emergency meeting set up before they were removed from government would be like a vote of confidence in his own position.

It’s understood there will no longer be any vote given the events of recent days.

Maggie Chapman declined to express her support.