Scottish Prime Minister Sturgeon calls alliance with Greens a “milestone”

The ruling party SNP in Scotland will form an alliance with the Greens. Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday praised the cooperation, describing it as “unprecedented”.

EDINBURG – The coalition provides the basis for “courageous and decisive action” during the legislative period, Sturgeon said in parliament in the capital, Edinburgh. During the collaboration, new ministerial posts were created for the co-party leaders of the Greens, Patrick Harvey and Lorna Slater, with explicitly “green” themes such as the circular economy and biodiversity. This is the first time the Greens have been in government in the UK. This is an “important milestone” for Great Britain, Sturgeon said. The Greens, like Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP), advocate independence and a return to the European Union. Together, the parties have had a clear majority in parliament since the May election: they hold 72 out of 129 seats.

new independence referendum

Sturgeon insisted that there was an “undisputed” mandate for a new independence referendum. This is all the more important because decisions that will shape the country after the pandemic “have to be decided here in Scotland”. Opposition from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party accused the SNP of working its way to independence by recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. According to most experts, Johnson’s government has to approve the referendum. Recently, key representatives indicated that they would be willing to do so under certain circumstances. Most Scots voted against separation from the United Kingdom in 2014. But Sturgeon insisted that circumstances had changed because of Brexit, which was rejected by the Scots. (dpa)