‘Romance between SNP and Greens not over’ – Russell Findlay

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has said the “romance” between First Minister John Swinney and Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie is “not over” as the Scottish Government looks to set its next budget.

Findlay said he expected the SNP to “instinctively” turn to the Greens for support in passing the budget.

But he added that if Swinney was “serious” about setting a new direction, he was “all ears”.

In a speech delivered as MSPs head back to Holyrood after the autumn recess, Findlay made his pitch for cutting taxes and reducing the size of the state.

Asked about whether his party would engage with Scottish budget negotiations, Findlay said: “As much as it pains me to say, I do think the romance between Patrick Harvie and John Swinney is not over. I think that although the Bute House Agreement is dead in the water, in all likelihood the SNP will instinctively turn to their friends in the Greens because they follow the same agenda… so that’s in all likelihood what’s going to happen.

“If John Swinney is serious about common sense Conservative proposals for a budget, then I’m all ears.”

The comments follow Harvie warning the Scottish Government not to take his party’s backing for granted.

Speaking at the Scottish Greens’ conference at the weekend, Harvie said: “As Scottish Green MSPs, we have a responsibility to engage with the process in good faith, and with honesty.

“But as the only party that ever brought down an SNP budget, as John Swinney knows to his cost, we need to be clear that they cannot take our votes for granted.”

The party has called on the government to explore all avenues to raise revenue, including further use of existing tax powers, and reviewing tax reliefs and subsidies for big business.

Findlay, meanwhile, called for the removal of the intermediate rate of Scottish income tax – currently set at 21 per cent for earnings between £25,689 and £43,662 – and for the difference between income tax paid by those in Scotland and the rest of the UK to be reduced over the long term.

However, he insisted any proposals from his party to reduce tax would be “fully funded”.

And he said that his party was not in favour of cuts to public services but rather wanted to “cut the cost of delivering public services” by reducing wasted spend, such as by slashing the number of “middle managers” in the NHS.

Reducing the number of public bodies, quangos, commissioners and advisory bodies was highlighted as an option, with Findlay suggesting for example that Sepa and NatureScot could be merged, while the Scottish Land Commission could be scrapped.

The speech comes ahead of the UK Government’s Budget in Wednesday.

Speaking earlier today, Prime Minister Keir Starmer intimated that there would be tax rises to come.

He said his government was facing “unprecedented challenges” but would take “honest, responsible, long-term decisions in the interests of working people”.

While he said he was ready to be “judged” on his ability to deal with these challenges, he added he would “defend our tough decisions all day long” and “ignore the populist chorus of easy answers”.

“If people want to criticise the path we choose, that’s their prerogative,” he said, in remarks directed at the Conservatives and other opposition parties.

“But let them then spell out a different direction.

“If they think the state has grown too big, let them tell working people which public services they would cut. If they don’t see our long-term investment in infrastructure as necessary, let them explain to working people how they would grow the economy for them.”