Scottish Green MSPs say that they will not vote alongside the Scottish Conservatives in a motion for no confidence in the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney which is due to take place in parliament on Wednesday.
The party says it is a Tory plot to undermine the integrity of the Scottish Parliament, and they refer to “glaring hypocrisy from the Tories, who crowed about evidence being released last week but this week declared that it wasn’t enough”.
Despite the government releasing legal advice last week in the 2018 Judicial Review brought by the former First Minister, the Rt Hon Alex Salmond, the Greens accuse some members of the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints of making it a priority to “claim a political scalp”.
The Green MSPs say the evidence clearly shows how The Scottish Government failed the women complainers at the centre of the inquiry.
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “The Scottish Greens will always defend the integrity of the Scottish Parliament, and that is why we backed the call for John Swinney to release evidence that the Harassment Committee and Parliament had asked for.
“That evidence clearly showed the Scottish Government had failed the women who came forward, and this, rather than opportunistic political theatre, should be the focus. The Tories called it a screeching U-turn last week, but this week they still want a political scalp to show for it. The evidence provided cannot be both the bombshell revelation they claimed, and at the same time inadequate to draw conclusions on the issues that matter.
“It’s clear from this naked attempt to undermine our democratic institutions and from the line of questioning from their committee members that the Scottish Conservatives have no interest in making sure women are supported coming forward with complaints in the future. For them, this vote of no confidence is a pathetic political game just weeks ahead of an election in which they have nothing positive to offer the people of Scotland. The Scottish Greens will remain focused on setting out a vision for making Scotland a better place.”
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