Scotland’s leader firm on continuing

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, after breaking away from Scottish National Party’s (SNP) coalition agreement with the Greens, is confident of winning the confidence vote even as all the parties – the Greens, the Scottish Conservatives, the Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats – have all said they would not support Yousaf.

Yousaf declared, “The agreement was intended to provide stability to the Scottish government, and it has made possible a number of achievements, but it has served its purpose.” Yousaf wants to run a minority government and he would seek the support of all parties.

Green Party’s 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. They have broken the bonds of trust with members of both parties who have twice chosen the co-operation agreement and climate action over chaos, culture wars and division. They have betrayed the electorate.”

Labour leader Anas Sarwar said, “It would be untenable for SNP to assume it can impose another unelected First Minister on Scotland.”

It is interesting that the political crisis in Scotland arises from a tough stance taken by both sides on the issue of carbon emission reduction. Yousaf believes that it is not in the interest of Scotland to do so, while the Greens have no doubt in their mind that there is no alternative. It is not possible to dodge climate issues anymore because it affects the lives of people.

Climate is turning into a hot political issue. Though it is still possible for mainstream parties to fudge the issues concerning climate change crisis, there is a growing awareness that the climate crisis is reaching the doorstep of the common people. It is no more a remote issue that will come into play sometime in the distant future.

Yousaf’s predecessor Nicola Sturgeon, who had struck the SNP deal with the Greens, was a left-leaning politicians, and it was one of the reasons that she had to step down. Although Yousad can speak the language of a political liberal with much ease, he is not really a liberal who believes in the green issues. Yousaf does not believe in the climate issues. He is not that kind of a politician.

The Greens take the climate agenda very seriously. Yousaf should have taken the climate issue pretty seriously. It just shows that he is a regular politician with no futuristic view. It is indeed the case that many politicians across political parties do not take climate issues seriously, and Yousaf belongs to the group of politicians who want to play the usual power games. The Greens are playing for higher stakes – ideological and programmatic.

In the immediate future, along with economy and jobs, climate will be the burning issue on the political agenda. It cannot be buried. It cannot be moved away from the table. It is becoming clear by the day that the climate change has its economic consequences.

It will hurt economic growth, and it involves more money to fight the consequences of climate change than in preventing the climate change crisis getting out of hand. It costs less money to adopt mitigating measures to control climate change.

There was a time when the Greens appeared to be an outlandish political party in Europe. But after nearly 30 years and more, Greens are occupying the centre stage. Yousaf’s cavalier attitude in breaking with the Greens might make SNP irrelevant in the next decade. Most conservative parties and politicians have been  climate-change sceptics, and they have been losing ground for this reason.