Nicola Sturgeon accused of 'recycling' speech by Ross
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Nicola Sturgeon and the Green Party have agreed on a new power-sharing deal where Green Party co-leaders, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, will be appointed as junior ministers and will be allowed access to Scottish cabinet meetings. But while Ms Sturgeon has stressed it is not a coalition and that the two parties still fundamentally disagree on many policies, political opponents have attacked the agreement as being a ruse for the SNP to push Scottish independence across the line. Douglas Ross took his opportunity during a Holyrood session that was voting on the Green appointment and mocked Ms Sturgeon’s “recycled” speech in a harsh dressing down.
The new agreement between the Greens and SNP is just shy of a formal coalition but will enable Green politicians to take senior government roles for the first time in its history.
Two Green MSPs will be appointed as junior ministers with the Green co-leaders allowed to sit in on cabinet twice a year.
In the May elections, the SNP fell one seat short of an overall majority and had the choice of forming another minority government with the support of the Greens.
The SNP and the Greens have often found common ground on policies as the two sides have unofficially worked together in the past to push through legislation but this agreement has formalised the partnership.
Speaking in Holyrood, Mr Ross attacked the deal and said: “Finally, the SNP/Green deal has done something for the environment.
“Because Nicola Sturgeon has just spent the last 15 minutes recycling the exact same speech she gave last week, the exact same speech that she used to try and convince everybody this coalition isn’t actually a coalition.
“Now I know, Nicola Sturgeon lectures us all that she speaks at a higher level of intelligence than everyone else.
“But trying to claim that this is not a coalition well that is quite simply a joke, even by SNP standards.”
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Mr Ross then addressed how the Greens and SNP both support independence and the new deal was simply a way for the SNP to get a referendum over the line.
The Greens also agree with the SNP that Scottish voters are ignored by Westminster and hope an independent Scotland will enable them to address climate change better.
Mr Ross continued: “This is a nationalist coalition with one overriding goal, separating Scotland from the United Kingdom, yet again, a divisive referendum has come first, as it always does with this government.
“It’s a simple fact that Nicola Sturgeon made this national deal her priority over a programme for government which should have been announced today as it normally always is at the start of a term…
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“Once again, the SNP have got the priorities all wrong, they’ve turned their back on jobs, our economy, the oil and gas industry, and car drivers.
“This isn’t a deal for hard-working Scotland, this coalition will hammer everyone who works hard, everyone who runs a business, everyone who owns a vehicle.
“This is not a deal that works for Scotland, this is a deal that works for Nicola Sturgeon, she failed to get a majority, and this deal is a consequence of that.”
Mr Ross then pointed out Ms Slater had previously called a collaboration with the SNP as a “terrible deal”.
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