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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Ex-Post Office executive says she does not recall email telling her Horizon terminals could be remotely accessed – as it happened

Humza Yousaf SNP Greens United Kingdom Lorna Slater Patrick Harvie Post Office Climate Change Scottish Greens The Scottish Greens

Key event

Here are two posts from the Scottish Green party’s X account this afternoon, including a clip of Patrick Harvie, the co-leader, asking Humza Yousaf at FMQs who he can rely on in parliament now.

We have not had a formal announcement yet, but these aren’t messages that suggest the Scottish Greens will be voting for Yousaf in the no confidence debate, or even abstaining.

You can’t rip up the most progressive co-operation deal in the history of this parliament and expect business to continue as usual.

The Scottish Greens will continue to put people and planet first.

Humza Yousaf has chosen to rely on social conservatives and the right wing of his party to run a minority government.

The Scottish Greens believe Scotland deserves a progressive Government that puts people and planet first

Macron criticises Rwanda-style asylum schemes as UK Act gets royal assent

Emmanuel Macron has criticised migration policies that involve sending people to African countries as “a betrayal of our [European] values”, Jennifer Rankin reports. Macron’s speech coincided with the UK government’s Act doing exactly what he was criticising getting royal assent. (See 11.22am.)

Alex Salmond suggests Alba MSP Ash Regan will use her swing vote in confidence debate to get concessions from SNP

Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister who now leads Alba, the pro-independence party he set up after he left the SNP, has delivered a withering assessment of how Humza Yousaf ended the power-sharing deal with Scottish Greens.

In an interview with Times Radio, Salmond also said that Ash Regan, the former SNP MSP who is now the only Alba member in the Scottish parliament, will be the swing vote in the no confidence debate on Yousaf.

Salmond, who ran a minority government himself between 2007 and 2011, said:

Humza Yousaf today has managed to insult every opposition party. If you’re going to run a minority government, by definition, you must try and not insult at least one of the opposition parties otherwise they’ll vote you out.

A much more sensible way to end the agreement, I would have thought, would have been to have told the Greens that the SNP, like the Greens, were going to put it to their membership and then nobody could have complained about that.

As it is Patrick Harvie and his colleague Lorna Slater are fizzing. [See 9.36am, 2.21pm and 2.31pm.] They seem even angrier with the SNP than the Tory party are. So I don’t think Humza Yousaf will get much support from that quarter in the future.

And of course, inadvertently ... Humza Yousaf has managed to make Ash Regan, an Alba MSP, the most powerful MSP in the Scottish parliament because she now has the swing vote in the parliament.

If the Greens vote with the Tories, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, then Yousaf will only be able to avoid defeat if Regan votes to support him. That would lead to a tie, but in those circumstances the presiding officer, Alison Johnstone, would have the casting vote, and by convention she would vote for the status quo – ie for Yousaf. (See 1.59am.)

Asked what Regan would do, Salmond said:

And I’m sure Ash Regan, who I spoke to just five minutes ago, will use that power very wisely indeed to progress the cause of independence and to protect the rights of women and to try and find a way to restore confidence within the Scottish government, which has been so badly lacking recently.

She is writing to the first minister setting out many of her concerns about the direction of the Scottish government recently and asking what he’s going to do to improve things and to sustain things, ie progress towards Scottish independence, protection of the rights of women and girls, and how he’s going to set about restoring some level of competence within the Scottish administration.

This morning Regan posted a message on X saying she was glad to see Yousaf abandoning “the extremly unpopular policies of the Greens”. (See 9.50am.)

Updated

Rishi Sunak has been running with Russ Cook, the athlete who recently became the first person to run the length of Africa. He has posted a clip on X.

Shoplifting offences in England and Wales up 37% year on year, latest crime figures show

Shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales have risen to the highest level for two decades, according to the Office for National Statistics, PA Media reports. PA says:

A total of 430,104 offences were recorded in the year to December 2023, up 37% from 315,040 in the previous 12 months.

This is the highest figure since current police recording practices began in the year ending March 2003.

The number of offences involving theft from the person stood at 125,563 in 2023, up 18% from 106,606 in 2022, and is the highest level since 2004 (137,154).

Commenting on the latest crime figures for England and Wales, Nick Stripe from the ONS said: “In the past 12 months, police recorded crime shows notable increases in robbery, theft from the person and shoplifting.

“The latter has risen by more than 100,000 offences, while the police have been dealing with the highest levels of theft from the person offences recorded in two decades.

“While levels of headline crime measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales remain relatively stable, there are variations when looking at individual crime types.

“The survey indicates that incidents of fraud and criminal damage are both decreasing, but computer misuse has been on the rise.”

The ONS report out today includes figures for crimes recorded by the police and the results of the crime survey, which measures crime by asking people if they have experienced crime. The ONS says the overall crime survey headline figures “do not show a statistically significant change compared with the year ending December 2022 survey, although they do follow a long-term downward trend”.

Shadow care minister unable to say if Labour would give care system extra £8bn a year experts say it needs

Labour’s shadow care minister has admitted he does not know if a Keir Starmer-led government will be able to find £8bn a year in extra funding which is widely estimated to be the minimum needed to stabilise England’s creaking social care system.

Andrew Gwynne MP told council social services directors today that the care system was “in crisis” after successive Conservative governments.

But he was unable to say how much extra money a Labour government could provide, and also cast doubt over how far Labour could deliver existing plans, announced by Jeremy Hunt, to cap social care costs to prevent people having to sell their homes to pay care fees.

Gwynne insisted that reforming social care is “one of the top priorities of the next Labour government” and said that by 2035 Labour would have created a new national care service.

But with over 150,000 care jobs vacant and real terms falls in funding over recent years, the Commons health and social care committee has estimated at least £7bn extra a year is needed, at a minimum, while the Health Foundation has said £8.3bn a year will be needed by the end of the coming decade.

Asked by the Guardian whether Labour could promise £8bn year, Gwynne said:

I am not going to put a figure on it, but we are making the case to Rachel [Reeves] that investment in social care, if you get it right, releases resources elsewhere in the system … You can invest in services that at some stage pay back to the public purse.

We are determined that we have a once in a generation opportunity to fix health and social care. We are very realistic of the timescales and we are also realistic about the resource implications.

Social care leaders have been having to ration care because of tightening budgets and rising demand and the president of the Association of Directors of Social Services , Melanie Williams, said they have endured “a decade of disappointment”.

Updated

Cleverly says holding another Tory leadership contest before election 'catastophically bad idea'

James Cleverly, the home secretary, is the speaker at a press gallery lunch this afternoon. (The guest is normally expected to give a short speech, but the most interesting part is when they take questions; it’s like a press conference, only with food, wine and table service.) According to Adam Payne from Politics Home, Cleverly had a blunt message for Tory MPs who are considering triggering a no confidence vote in Rishi Sunak after the local elections.

Speaking at the lobby lunch, James Cleverly says having another Tory leadership contest before the general election is a “catastrophically bad idea”.

Asked by @GeorgeWParker for his message to Tory MPs who are considering sending no confidence letters post-local elections, Cleverly says: “If you’re going to jump out of the aeroplane, please make sure you have a parachute and don’t say ‘we will work it out on the way down’…”.

Ex-Post Office executive tells inquiry she does not recall 2010 email telling her Horizon terminals could be remotely accessed

A former top Post Office executive has claimed she forgot about an email in 2010 saying that cash balances in subpostmasters’ branch accounts could be remotely accessed, PA Media reports.

Angela van den Bogerd had earlier told the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry in central London on Thursday that she never “knowingly” did anything wrong in the scandal. (See 12.47pm.)

However, van den Bogerd, was asked if she had “airbrushed” from her mind the fact that Horizon developer Fujitsu had remote access to accounts, PA reports.

A December 5 2010 email sent to her by Lynn Hobbs, the organisation’s general manager of network support, said she had “found out that Fujitsu can actually put an entry into a branch account remotely”.

But van den Bogerd said to the inquiry: “I don’t actually remember receiving these emails.”

Jason Beer KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, asked: “Is what truly happening here is that you’re telling us that you don’t recall it because you know the email of December 5 2010 presents you with a problem?”

Van den Bogerd responded: “No not all – I wish I had remembered that information.”

As PA reports, in her witness statement, van den Bogerd insisted she was not aware of remote access to accounts until 2011.

The inquiry heard that while giving evidence in the Mr Bates vs the Post Office High Court case in March 2019, van den Bogerd said she first knew about remote access “in the last year or so”.

Beer asked: “That’s false isn’t it?”

She replied: “At the time I didn’t think it was.”

Beer said there were also emails in January 2011 and April 2014 telling her about remote access.

As PA reports, the inquiry was shown a 2014 email sent from communications worker Melanie Corfield to several Post Office bosses including Angela van den Bogerd. It read: “Our current line, if we’re asked about remote access being used to change branch data or transactions, is simply ‘this is not and has never been possible’.”

Van den Bogerd said she does not remember if she challenged the “false lines”, despite knowing this was the case.

She said she “must have missed” the email, saying: “If it had registered with me, I would have challenged it.”

She insisted it was not a “cover-up”.

According to David Torrance, a constitutional specialist working for the House of Commons library (which is a high-powered research organisation, not just a book collection), Humza Yousaf is only legally obliged to resign if his government as a whole loses a confidence motion. The one tabled by the Scottish Conservatives is a no confidence motion in Yousaf personally. (See 1.52pm.)

If a First Minister loses a motion of no confidence at Holyrood, then under section 45(2) of the Scotland Act 1998 then that FM is legally obliged to tender his resignation to the King… 1/2

Such a resignation would kick off a 28-day period in which the office of First Minister has to be filled. If it’s not, then an extraordinary general election takes place 2/2

Correction to first tweet above, only a vote of no confidence in the Scottish Government would oblige the FM to resign, not one expressing no confidence in the First Minister alone

Of course, a first minister who lost a personal confidence vote might decide to resign anway, regardless of that not being a legal necessity.

Patrick Harvie, Scottish Green co-leader, claims Yousaf has capitulated to rightwingers and it's 'tragic for Scotland'

Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, refused to say in an interview with Radio 4’s the World at One whether or not he would support Humza Yousaf in the no confidence vote. Harvie said:

That will, of course, be put to our entire parliamentary group for decision. That’s the way we do things in the Greens. We don’t have one or two individuals that [decide matters].

At this press conference this morning Humza Yousaf went out of his way to thank and praise Harvie and Lorna Slater, the other Green co-leader, for their contribution as ministers to his government.

But Harvie was not so complimentary about this former government colleague. He told the World at One:

Over the last while there’s been a small and mostly fairly marginalised rightwing faction on Humza Yousaf’s backbenches who’ve been starting to throw their weight around.

And I think what’s clearly happened now is that Humza Yousaf has decided to capitulate to that rightwing, socially and economically conservative agenda within his own party.

I think that’s tragic for Scotland, it’s bad for the government and I’ve no doubt it’ll be bad for Humza Yusuf as well.

Harvie said he and Slater were intended to advise Scottish Green party members to vote to continue the power-sharing agreement with the SNP in the ballot the Greens were planning to hold. He and Slater wanted cooperation “to go further”, he said.

But the first minister, I’m sorry to say, has decided to dump a lot of progressive values in the Bute House agreement. And I’ve no doubt that we’re now going to see a raft of policy decisions that water down, delay or ditch altogether some of the progressive measures that we were committed to, things like rent controls and a whole host of other measures.

Updated

Stormont ministers have agreed a budget for this financial year, PA Media reports. PA says:

Following a lengthy meeting of the Northern Ireland executive, first minister Michelle O’Neill said the agreed budget was “very challenging”.

Deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly said it was disappointing that health minister Robin Swann had not supported the budget agreed by other Stormont ministers.

Speaking at a press conference, she said the funds the Ulster Unionist health minister had requested would have subsumed the entire budget available.

She said 50% of the available budget had been given to health.

Labour and Lib Dems set to vote with Tories against Humza Yousaf in no confidence motion

As Alistair Grant from the Scotsman reports, Labour and the Liberal Democrats will back the Conservative no confidence motion in Humza Yousaf.

The Greens and Ash Regan, a former SNP MSP who now represents Alba, are undecided, he says.

- Labour confirms it will back the vote of no confidence in Humza Yousaf.
- Liberal Democrats will back it.
- Greens meeting later to discuss.
- Ash Regan (Alba) says she’s writing to the FM and her support will depend on his answer to that.

Extraordinary day.

The SNP has 63 MSPs.

There are now already 57 MSPs lined up to vote against Yousaf: Conservatives (31), Labour (22) and Lib Dems (4).

The Greens have 7 MSPs and Alba just one (Ash Regan).

Updated

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, has posted a picture on X of the no confidence motion he has tabled in Humza Yousaf.

‘Huge disappointment’ as UK delays bottle deposit plan and excludes glass

A UK deposit return scheme for recycling drinks bottles has been delayed to 2027, meaning it will not be in place until almost a decade after it was proposed, Helena Horton reports.

The Labour party has today published a 28-page policy paper with more details of its plans to nationalise the train network.

Here is our overnight story, by Jessica Elgot and Gwyn Topham, on the plans.

What would have to happen for an early election to take place in Scotland?

A reader asks:

Could Holyrood force an early Scottish election, if the Greens say they have no confidence in the SNP minority government? Scottish polls suggest Labour, Greens might both gain seats in an election at the expense of SNP and Tories.

That seems very unlikely. In Scotland the first minister does not have the power the UK PM does to set the election date. Instead Scotland operates under rules much more akin to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. Elections were originally meant to take place every four years, and now it is every five years. The next one is due in 2026.

There are circumstances in which an early election can be called, but they are not levers that can be used easily.

Under one option, for an earlier election to be held, two thirds of MSPs would have to vote to dissolve parliament early. That means the SNP, and opposition parties, would have to be in favour. The SNP does not have a majority, but it has more than a third of the seats at Holyrood, and so for a vote of this nature it has in effect a veto.

Alternatively, an election would take place if parliament failed to nominate a first minister. But that would require Yousaf deciding to resign, and MSPs failing to elect any alternative. That seems unlikely too.

When the Scotland Act was being drafted, and a PR electoral system proposed, it was assumed that majority governments at Holyrood would be the exception, not the norm, and that minority or coalition governments could be quite common. This was a point Humza Yousaf made himself today (see 11.34am). At Westminster it is assumed that a minority government cannot last long without an election, but in Scotland different assumptions apply.

Updated

Ex-Post Office executive who played leading role defending prosecutions tells inquiry she's 'truly, truly sorry'

A former Post Office executive who played a leading role in defending the prosecution of the post officer operators who are now recognised as innocent said this morning she she never “knowingly” did anything wrong in the Horizon scandal.

As PA Media reports, Angela van den Bogerd began her evidence at the Post Office Horizon inquiry in London on Thursday by saying she was “truly, truly sorry” for the “devastation” caused to wrongly convicted subpostmasters and their families.

Van den Bogerd, who was played by Coronation Street actress Katherine Kelly in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, later said: “I didn’t knowingly do anything wrong, and I would never knowingly do anything wrong.”

Jason Beer KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, pointed out that she had not apologised for her own role in the scandal in her witness statement.

Van den Bogerd replied:

I’ve reflected on this quite a bit and the disclosure that I’ve seen through this process, there are things that, documents that I’ve seen that … clearly knowing what I know now, I would give further weight to some of those documents than I did at the time, so they would have more significance.

So things that I might have missed at the time I really regret that and wish I’d been able to see that back then.

As PA reports, Beer pressed again, asking: “You don’t apologise for anything that you did wrong, do you?”

Van den Bogerd responded:

I apologise for not getting to the answer more quickly. But with the evidence I had and the parameters of my role at the time, I did the best I could to the best of my ability.

Asked if she blames Horizon developer Fujitsu for not being “transparent” with her and the Post Office, van den Bogerd responded: “Yes.”

She also agreed with Beer that chiefs were attempting to control the narrative by using the words “exception or anomaly” to describe bugs or defects in the Horizon system.

Van den Bogerd held various roles throughout her 35-year career at the Post Office, starting off as a network change operations manager, then on to head of network services, head of partnerships, director of support services and the director of people and change.

She was appointed as the Post Office’s business improvement director in 2018, but stepped down from the role in 2020.

At the start of her evidence van den Bogerd said:

Saying sorry I know doesn’t change what’s happened.

But I do want to say to everyone impacted by wrongful convictions and wrongful contract terminations that I am truly, truly sorry for the devastation caused to you, your family and friends.

I hope my evidence will assist this inquiry with getting to the answers you and so many others deserve.

Van den Bogerd was the most senior Post Office witness in Bates v the Post Office, the legal case that resulted in Alan Bates securing a £57m settlement from the Post Office on behalf of 555 post office operators wrongly accused of taking money. Much of the payment went towards legal fees.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, said both parties in the power-sharing agreement had failed. Referring to Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, he said:

Two clowns have left the clown car, but this circus continues.

The presiding officer, Alison Johnstone, told Cole-Hamilton to treat other MSPs with respect.

Yousaf said reminded Cole-Hamiliton of the Lib Dem coalition with the Tories which delivered austerity. And he said Cole-Hamiltion could not even field a five-a-side football team.

The Scottish Lib Dems have just four MSPs.

Sarwar said the SNP were “weak, divided, incompetent and putting party before country”. He said Scotland should hold an election.

Yousaf said a general election would be taking place soon anway. Labour would lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses, but keep the two-child cap on benefits, he said.

Sarwar said Yousaf spent weeks defending the Bute House agreement. He was “pleading with Green party members to keep his shambolic government together”. Now he has been forced into a “humiliating U-turn”, he said.

Sarwar quoted Yousaf as saying, when he was running for SNP leader, as saying that ending the deal with the Green and destablising the government would be “a tremendously foolish thing to do”. Does Yousaf feel tremendously foolish today?

Yousaf ignored this quote, and attacked Sarwar, arguing he was in the pocket of Keir Starmer.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said Yousaf was a weak leader who was not delivering on what the Scottish government promised.

Scottish Tories say they will call vote of no confidence in Yousaf in Scottish parliament

Ross said Yousaf was a weak first minister who jumped before the Scottish Green members pushed him.

He said the Scottish Conservatives would be tabling a motion of no confidence in Yousaf.

Yousaf said the Tories were “nothing if not predictable”. He accused them of playing “political games”.

He said voters would give the Tories “an almighty thumping” at the election.

UPDATE: Ross said:

I can confirm today that on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives I am lodging a vote of no confidence in Humza Yousaf.

He is a failed first minister. He is focused on the wrong priorities for Scotland.

He has governed in the SNP’s interests and not in Scotland’s interests. He is unfit for office.

And Yousaf said:

I’ll leave it to Douglas Ross to play the political games that he wants to play.

If he wants to put our record and his party’s record on the line, let’s do that.

There’s a general election coming this year and I can guarantee you the electorate will give the Conservative party an almighty thumping, show them the door, and they deserve nothing less.

Updated

Ross said Yousaf failed to explain why he changed his mind in the last 48 hours about the deal with the Greens. He claimed Yousaf’s government was in crisis. Yousaf has abandoned the platform he stood on, Ross said. He said Yousaf was now a lame duck first minster.

Yousaf said Ross’s party gave the country Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. The Tories are the party of the mini-budget, he said. And in Scotland they have not won an election for half a century, he said.

Ross said the Greens should never have been allowed into government in Scotland. At what point in the last 48 hours did Yousaf conclude that the Bute House agreement was over? Or did he dump them before the Greens dumped him?

Yousaf said Ross did not want to talk about substance. He again outlined some achievements of the Scottish government. In contrast, the Tories supported the Rwanda bill, tax cuts for the rich, and further austerity, he said.

At Holyrood it’s first minister’s questions.

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said Humza Yousaf said the SNP deal with the Greens was worth its weight in gold. But now it has turned to dust.

Referring to what the Greens have said about Yousaf today, he asked if for once the Greens had got something right.

Yousaf said the Bute House agreement last 19 times as long as Liz Truss’s premiership. He listed a string of achievements during that time, including the Scottish child payment going up in value. And he said the Tories were responsible for Brexit, “an unmitigated disaster”.

In a snap analysis of the signficance of the SNP ending its power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens, Glenn Campbell, the BBC’s Scottish political editor, says the Scottish Greens might soon need new leadership. He explains:

There was a potential longer term project too.

Some imagined an official or unofficial pact between the parties at the next Holyrood election, with the SNP targeting constituencies and the Greens focusing on the top up lists.

That strategy would have aimed to keep both parties in power and maintain an independence supporting majority in the Scottish Parliament.

New strategies will now be required for both parties - and that may involve some change in the leadership of the Scottish Greens sooner rather than later.

Campbell’s full analysis is here.

Lorna Slater, Scottish Green co-leader, says 'future generations of Scotland' betrayed by Yousaf

The Scottish Greens have also held a press briefing following the collapose of their power-sharing agreement with the SNP. Lorna Slater, the party’s co-leader, said “future generations of Scotland have been betrayed” by Humza Yousaf’s decison.

Asked if she had been betrayed, she replied:

I think the future generations of Scotland have been betrayed. The progressive policies that Greens are working towards were about creating a longstanding vision for a greener and fairer Scotland. And now anything we see brought to the chamber will be watered down, delayed, underfunded. It’s a worse future for Scotland.

And here is the full text of the statement Slater issued earlier.

She said it was wrong for Yousaf to end the pact unilaterally, in a “weak and thoroughly hopeless way”, when it would have been more democratic to let Scottish Green party members vote on it.

And she contrasted Yousaf’s stance with the position taken by her and her co-leader, Patrick Harvie. She said:

We as co-leaders of the Scottish Greens were prepared to put our own political careers on the line with our members, to defend our achievements in government, despite enduring all that SNP backbenchers and others threw against us.

Humza Yousaf's press conference - summary and analysis

Here are the main lines from what Humza Yousaf said at his news conference. But what the reporters were saying was probably just as interesting too. One of the reasons why I often report press conferences in full, covering the questions as much as the answers, is because from the questions you can gauge how an event is likely to end up being reported in the papers the following day. Yousaf rejected the claim that his U-turn on the pact with the Scottish Greens was a sign of weakness, but that did not stop the question from being put repeatedly. The tone of the exchanges implied that the Scottish papers (which are not over-favourable to the SNP at the best of times) won’t make pleasant reading for Yousaf tomorrow.

  • Yousaf said he was ending the power-sharing pact with the Scottish Greens (the Bute House agreement) because he felt it had “served its purpose”. He explained:

Cooperation in any sphere of life is almost, by definition, a trade off – one in which the benefits of working together are held up against the limitations of compromise.

And when it comes to our the agreement with the Scottish Green party, I believe that the benefits have outweighed the compromises. When I said that the agreement was worth its weight in gold, I meant it.

However, it is now my judgment that the balance has shifted.

The Bute House 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.

It is no longer guaranteeing a stable arrangement in parliament. The events of recent days have made that clear.

Therefore, after careful consideration, I believe that going forward, it is in the best interests of the people of Scotland to pursue a different arrangement.

  • He said that he expected the SNP to continue to cooperate with the Scottish Greens, but in a “less formal” way. He said that governing as a minority government would be “tough”. He also said the SNP would work with other opposition parties. They needed to “step up, he said. In his opening statement he said:

In essence, I hope that we will still be cooperating [with the Scottish Greens] but just returning to, frankly, a less formal arrangement …

We will now step up over ambition, but we will do so as a minority government. That will be tough. We will seek to work not just for the Scottish Greens, but with MSPs from across the chamber.

The SNP has, of course, governed as a minority for most of our time in office and, having served as a minister for a number of years during that time, I’m well used to working constructively with opposition parties where necessary secure parliamentary support.

It was, of course, under that agrement that some of our biggest successes in government were achieved.

And in response to a question, he said:

There’s a serious challenge here to the opposition too. They cannot simply oppose for the sake of opposing. They have to work constructively in order to make sure that we continue as a parliament to achieve for the people of Scotland.

So instead of sniping from the sidelines, as they often do, not coming with anything useful in terms of suggestion, now it’s time for the opposition to also step up.

  • He rejected claims that his decision to abandon the pact with the Greens just 48 hours after he was saying he wanted it to continue was a sign of weakness. Instead, he claimed he was showing leadership. (See 10.25am.)

  • He said that he had been considering ending the pact “for quite some time”, but that he kept defending the Bute House agreement in public because he was reflecting on the matter in private. Asked what changed between now and Tuesday, when he was saying he wanted the deal to continue, he replied:

I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time but, of course, you’d understand that for me it was important to take some of that counsel in private. I’ve been speaking to people that I trust, I’ve been reflecting myself very hard, and often with careful consideration, on what is in the best interests of the country, the government and, importantly and crucially, my party.

  • He denied ending the pact himself just because he did not want to let Scottish Green party members vote to end it first. (See 10.30am.)

Updated

Rwanda Act gets royal assent

Royal assent has been granted to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act, the Lord McFall, the Lord Speaker, has told the House of Lords.

That means it is now law.

The Scottish government has published the full text of Humza Yousaf’s open letter to Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater confirming that he has terminated the Bute House agreement.

Here’s an extract.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your service to the Scottish government and for your evident commitment to improving the lives of the Scottish people. The Bute House agreement delivered bold action on pressing social issues, including securing a better deal for tenants and action to tackle poverty and inequality. We have worked together, too, to accelerate our transition to net zero, with a focus on fair work, green jobs and more support for active travel and the launch of free bus travel for under 22s.

We can all be proud of our work together to build a greener, fairer and independent Scotland and for the role you played in working collaboratively to find solutions for the problems confronting the world today.

This spirit of cooperation and consensus-building is in keeping with the founding principles of our Scottish parliament. Those principles will continue to guide my Government’s approach and to be innovative in the ways we serve the people of Scotland.

The cessation of the Bute House agreement should not be a barrier to our parties continuing to work together to make progress on the policies Scotland needs to thrive; not least our shared commitment to securing independence for Scotland and to giving people the right to choose our country’s future.

Q: Is this all about saving your position, and saving seats for the SNP at the election?

Yousaf does not accept that. He says this is about stability.

And at that point he says he had to go, to prepare for FMQs.

I will post a summary of what he said shortly.

Q: Are you worried about losing a pro-independence majority?

Yousaf says there will still be a pro-independence majority in the parliament as a whole.

He says he will still be sharing platforms with the Greens on issues like this.

Yousaf says the SNP is not diminished “in one bit” in its determination to tackle the climate crisis.

Q: What is happening to the jobs left vacant by the departure of Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater?

Yousaf says in the first instance their responsibilities will be taken up by other ministers in government.

He thanks Harvie and Slater again for “the incredible work they have done as ministers”.

Q: Support for the deal with the Greens was a big party of your leadership campaign last year. Aren’t you a lame duck leader?

Not at all, Yousaf says. He repeats the point about leadership.

Yousaf denies ending pact with Greens just because he did not want their members to end it first

Q: Aren’t you doing this because it is better to do the breaking up yourself than be dumped? (The Scottish Greens were planning to have a vote of members on whether to continue the pact.)

“I wouldn’t know,” Yousaf jokes.

He says he does not know how Scottish Green members were going to vote.

Yousaf says he thinks there is a general feeling that the Bute House agreement has served its purpose.

Q: You were defending having Patrick Harvie in your government until very recently. Doesn’t this show you are not in control?

Yousaf insists he is showing leadership, repeating much of what he said when to a very similar question just a moment ago. (See 10.25am.)

'Quite the opposite. It shows leadership' - Yousaf rejects claim U-turn on continuing pact with Green shows he's weak

Q: Does this U-turn show you are weak? [This is the argument the Scottish Tories are making – see 9.54am.]

Yousaf replied:

Quite the opposite. It shows leadership.

As the leader of the government, leader of the party that elected me, I’ve got to make sure I do what’s in the best interest of Scotland.

Q: On Tuesday you were saying you hoped members of the Scottish Greens would vote to continue the Bute House agreement. What changed in 48 hours?

Yousaf says he had to consider this matter in private. He repeats the point about being proud of what the BHA achieved, but he says he felt it had served its purpose.

The deal was a trade-off. For the SNP, the benefit was stability in government. That was no longer being offered, he says.

He says it is now time for all opposition parties to step up. They can’t just “snipe from the sidelines”, he says.

Yousaf is now taking questions. He says he has not got long, because he has to prepare for first minister’s questions at noon.

He thanks Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater for their work in government.

In the future, the SNP and the Scottish Greens will cooperate issue by issue, he says.

Yousaf says the SNP will now govern as a minority government.

But this will mark a “new beginning” for the administration, he says.

I have a clear policy agenda that I wish to take forward, one that centres around growing our economy and supporting businesses, improving our NHS, tackling poverty and child poverty in particular, helping households during Westminster’s cost of living crisis, standing up for the rights of everyone in Scotland, especially our most marginalised communities and for the avoidance of any doubt, tackling the climate emergency.

Yousaf says deal with Greens 'has served its purpose' and in future the two parties will cooperate, but less formally

Yousaf says as leader of the government he has to decide how best it can make changes.

For almost three years the SNP had done that throught its agreement with the Scottish Greens. That deal has “undoubtedly” delivered some successes.

But he says, in almost any walk of life, cooperation is a trade-off.

He says, when he said the deal was worth its weight in gold, he meant it.

But he says that is no longer the case. He goes on:

The balance has shifted. The Bute House agreement was intended to provide stability to the Scottish government. And it’s made possible a number of achievements. But it has served its purpose.

Yousaf says the deal was no longer providing stability in parliament.

He says he has told the Scottish Greens he is terminating it with immediate effect.

In the future, the two parties will still cooperate, but in a less formal way, he says.

Updated

Humza Yousaf holds press conference

Humza Yousaf, the SNP leader and Scottish first minister, is holding a press conference now.

He says he has been in the post for little more than a year.

When he took over, he said he was committed to ensuring every family had equality of opportunity, and to promoting measures to encourage growth, and to improve well being.

He says his policies are making a difference.

We are investing record [sums in the NHS], ensuring it can employ record numbers of staff delivering the best performing A&E units in UK. We are, of course, the only part of the UK to avoid strike action in NHS. I’ve delivered the council tax freeze this year in every local authority, helping families …

And last week we approved plans for Europe’s largest floating offshore wind farm. These are just some of the actions that are making Scotland a better country.

The SNP MP Joanna Cherry has welcomed the end of the pact with the Scottish Greens. She posted these on X about an hour ago. Cherry is an outspoken gender critical feminist who has always been particularly critical of the Scottish Greens on trans issues.

If true this would be excellent news. The Scottish Greens have brought nothing transformative to the table on climate change that was actually viable, their science denying response to the #CassReport was disgraceful & their identity politics are toxic.

The ending of the Bute House agreement is a huge opportunity for the SNP to reset our agenda in government. Out with identity politics & virtue signalling. In with policies to tackle the bread & butter issues that our constituents bring up on the doorsteps.

Here is a clip of Humza Yousaf saying just two days ago he wanted the pact with the Scottish Greens to continue.

Scottish Tories claim end of power-sharing deal with Greens is 'utter humiliation' for Yousaf

The Tories are claiming the end of the pact with the Scottish Greens is “an utter humiliation” for Humza Yousaf. The Scottish Conservative chair, Craig Hoy, has put out this statement.

The collapse of this toxic coalition is an utter humiliation for Humza Yousaf, who hailed it as ‘worth its weight in gold’ and continued to back it to the hilt right until the end.

The first minister’s judgment is so poor that he couldn’t see what a malign influence the anti-growth Greens have been in government and his authority so weak that he was bounced into this U-turn by his own MSPs.

It beggars belief that the Greens were invited into government in the first place – but even more astonishing that Humza Yousaf allowed them to call the shots on issues like abandoning oil and gas, further delays to dualling the A9 and A96, devastating fishing curbs and gender ideology.

Humza Yousaf’s year as SNP leader has been a disastrous mix of scandals, infighting and policy U-turns. The collapse of the power-sharing pact he staked his reputation on is not just humiliating, it highlights once again how inept and out his depth he is.

Humza Yousaf, the SNP leader and Scottish first minister, is due to hold a press conference shortly.

This is from Ash Regan, an MSP who defected from the SNP to Alba after coming third in the SNP leadership contest last year. She tabled a no confidence motion in Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Green co-leader and, until this morning, a Scottish government minister, earlier this week. She was arguing that Harvie should resign from the government because of his failure to fully support the Cass review saying puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones should not be given to children wanting to change gender.

48 hours ago I put a motion of no confidence in against Patrick Harvie, today the Government have agreed.

I am glad to see the extremely unpopular politics of the greens have been abandoned and the SNP have found a backbone.

The former SNP MSP Joan McAlpine has posted a message on X suggesting Humza Yousaf may have decided to ditch the pact with the Scottish Greens because he realised many SNP MPs wanted to support the Regan no confidence motion.

Wouldn’t be surprised if a significant number of SNP MSPs told whips they planned to support Ash’s motion of NC in the increasingly extremist Mr Harvie. Might explain Humza Yousaf’s reverse ferret on Bute House Agreement with Greens today

Although the Scottish government’s decision last week to drop emissions targets for 2030 is the primary reason for the SNP/Scottish Greens pact collapsing, the Cass report, and transgender policy generally, are also important factors.

The Scottish Greens are much more strongly committed to trans rights than any other party in the UK. They pushed Nicola Sturgeon to pass the gender recognition reform bill that was ultimately blocked by Westminster (one of various factors contributing to Sturgeon’s loss of authority before she resigned), and Green MSPs have been wanting the SNP to be more critical of the Cass findings.

Updated

Scottish Greens describe SNP's decision to unilaterally end power-sharing deal as 'act of political cowardice'

Lorna Slater, one of the co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, has confirmed that the power-sharing agreement with the SNP is over.

In a statement, she said the SNP’s decision to end the deal, without allowing party members a say, was ‘an act of political cowardice”.

Updated

These are from Hamish Morrison, a reporter on the National, the pro-independence paper in Scotland.

The BHA is the Bute House agreement.

The National is running a live blog on the break-up of the power-sharing agreement.

(Neither side called it a coalition, although in practice that is what it was.)

The powersharing deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens at Holyrood has been brought to an end, PA Media is reporting.

Humza Yousaf reportedly abandons power-sharing agreement with Scottish Greens

Good morning. Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, has reportedly abandoned the SNP’s power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens. He called an emergency meeting of his cabinet this morning, and the co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie, who were ministers, were seen leaving soon afterwards. Yousaf reportedly sacked them, and plans to run a minority administration.

Yousaf has not publicly confirmed this yet, but a press conference is expected later.

This is from PA Media with some background.

The Greens were angered when the Scottish net zero Secretary Mairi McAllan announced last week the Scottish government was to ditch a key climate change target.

That, combined with the decision to pause the use of puberty blockers for new patients attending the only Scottish gender identity clinic for children in Glasgow, resulted in the Greens saying last week that they would have a vote on the future of the powersharing deal.

That vote is expected to take place later on in May – but it now appears the SNP could end the Bute House Agreement before that.

The deal, which was signed in 2021 and is named after the official residence of the Scottish first minister in Edinburgh, brought the Green party into government for the first time anywhere in the UK.

It gave the SNP a majority at Holyrood when the votes of its MSPs were combined with those of the seven Greens members, and also made Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater junior ministers in the Scottish government.

Without it the SNP would need to operate as a minority administration at Holyrood.

High-profile figures in the SNP, such as former leadership candidate Kate Forbes and party stalwart Fergus Ewing, have previously called for the deal to be ended.

We will have more on this as the situation develops.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, gives a speech setting out details of Labour’s plans to nationalise the rail network.

9.30am: The ONS publishes crime figures for England and Wales.

9.45am: Angela van den Bogerd, the former Post Office people services director, gives evidence to the Post Office Horizon inquiry. She is seen as one of the most important Post Office executives to give evidence so far because of the key role she played in defending the prosecutions of post officer operators.

11am: An announcement is expected in the Lords confirming that the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill has received royal assent.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Lunchtime: James Cleverly, the home secretary, is speaking at a press gallery lunch at Westminster.

Early afternoon: Keir Starmer is on a visit to a rail manufacturing plan in the north-east of England.

Also, David Cameron, the foreign secretary, is in Mongolia on the latest stage of his trip to Central Asia.

If you want to contact me, do use the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line; privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.

Updated

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