Green co-leader will quit if party ends power-sharing deal

Patrick Harvie said leaving government would be a mistake

Partick Harvie has said he will quit as co-leader of the Scottish Greens if party members vote to end their power-sharing agreement with the SNP.

The Scottish Greens have called an extraordinary meeting to vote on the future of the Bute House Agreement.

It comes after the Scottish government dropped its 2030 climate target and Scotland's NHS paused prescribing puberty blockers to children referred by its specialist gender clinic.

Mr Harvie said leaving government would be a "mistake".

He said that if the party went back into opposition "I genuinely don't see how it would be realistic for me to carry on in that way in those circumstances".

Mr Harvie said he shared the "distress" of some in his party over the decisions on climate targets and puberty blockers.

But he argued that leaving the power-sharing deal with the SNP would be a mistake, insisting the Greens should not be a party which quits when "things get difficult".

He said the party has had a "roller-coaster" first term in government and that its members were still adjusting to the "cultural change" that came with being in government.

Alba Party MSP Ash Regan has filed a no confidence motion against Mr Harvie over his response to the Cass review on gender services for under-18s in England, which was published two weeks ago.

Last week, NHS Scotland paused the prescription of puberty blockers to children referred by its specialist gender clinic, the Sandyford in Glasgow.

When asked on The Sunday Show if he accepted that the Cass report was a valid scientific document, Mr Harvie said: "I've seen far too many criticisms of it to be able to say that.

"The decision that was made last week was not a government decision. It was made by individual clinicians."

Ms Regan said Mr Harvie had sided with "ideology over clinical evidence".

Mr Harvie described her no confidence motion as "sordid political game-playing" and said the issue was about the rights of young trans people, who may now "not get access to the treatment they need".

Meanwhile, the first minister has told BBC Scotland News that he hopes the Scottish Greens will continue to work with his government.

Humza Yousaf said it was a decision for the party's members but argued that the Bute House Agreement had created positives for both parties.

Some SNP figures have called for the agreement to be ditched, with former minister Alex Neil arguing that it was doing "enormous damage" to the political standing of the party.

Meanwhile, Public Health Minister Jenni Minto has made a statement in the Scottish Parliament on the Cass review.

She said it was "vitally important" that the report was considered carefully and that she fully supported the decisions made by clinicians.

The public health minister said the government was considering the Cass report

Ms Minto added: "It is not for politicians, nor civil servants, to make clinical decisions about clinical pathways.

"These decisions should be made only by clinicians and ministers will not make them."

The Scottish Conservatives said the government was "kicking the can down the road" and said it had failed to clarify if any of the review's recommendations would be implemented.

Scottish Labour said Ms Minto's statement lacked substance, describing it as "a sop to the Greens".

Ms Minto said a new multi-disciplinary team led by the chief medical officer will be set up to consider the Cass report's recommendations.