FERGUS EWING: My party is in real trouble if it allows extremist fringe to ... trends now
Humza Yousaf, shortly before sacking his Green ministers and terminating the discredited Bute House Agreement (BHA), claimed the partnership was ‘worth its weight in gold’.
Most people could see that the BHA was disastrous, leading to a series of dud, damaging policies which cost the taxpayer and the people dearly. If it was anything, it was fools’ gold.
The overwhelming majority of the public agree and can see that this was the root of many of Humza’s problems. SNP members too, in a recent opinion poll, believed that the deal should be ended.
But even now, John Swinney and his many supporters amongst my MSP and MP colleagues still appear to believe that this was not a problem.
When a political party is so out of step with public opinion, it is in real trouble.
Nationalist MSP Fergus Ewing has warned that people are appalled the Greens - a ‘fringe party of extremists’ – should still wield power over the SNP leadership debate
But Kate Forbes does not subscribe to fallacious orthodoxies. She may be young, but she is not as muddle-headed as her elders.
Take the trans rights debate: a large majority of MSPs voted for the law that 16-year-olds can change gender at will.
But the public did not agree. Opinion polls found two-thirds of people opposed self-ID without the current checks designed to protect youngsters who may change gender then regret it later.
Kate sees the urgent need to reset our politics to provide fresh hope and to focus on competent government; the pressing need to spend our time in government working with business to build economic success and prosperity over a period of ten years, not just a short term fix. In doing so, we are better able to fund public services.
What has not been mentioned much in this leadership debate is another serious problem facing the party.
While the BHA is formally over, its consequences will, unless there is a fundamental change in direction, continue to damage the country for years to come.
For example, the Heat in Buildings Bill will impose legal obligations on homeowners over energy efficiency standards and installation of decarbonised heating.
What happens if either or both cannot be afforded, and cannot in practice be achieved without inordinate cost?
The homes involved will become unmortgageable. Lenders won’t lend on homes which breach the law.
As well as causing mayhem and misery to thousands of hard-working Scots who can’t sell their homes, this will, in the view of senior banking and property experts I have worked with, lead to Scotland being reassessed as a mortgage
