Nicola Sturgeon took the SNP in a direction that was “really not going to work out” and became “obsessed with ideology, equality and gender form” during the period that Greens were part of the Scottish Government, one of her former cabinet secretaries has claimed.
Veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing was critical of policies introduced during the period of the Bute House Agreement.
Ms Sturgeon was SNP leader and Scottish first minister when the power-sharing deal was agreed in the aftermath of the 2021 Holyrood election – with Mr Ewing claiming she had “brought the Greens into government not having mentioned this to the electorate beforehand”.
In an interview with the Institute for Government think tank, he said: “I would say that Nicola gradually took the party and the policies in a direction that I thought was really not going to work out.”
Mr Ewing, who served as the Scottish Government’s rural economy secretary under Ms Sturgeon, insisted they had “parted on amicable terms” when he was “dispatched” from her cabinet in 2021.
But he went on to become a vocal critic of the decision to bring the Scottish Greens into government with the SNP.
Mr Ewing, who has previously branded the Greens “winebar revolutionaries”, recalled: “I spoke out against it. I was the only person in my group to do so. ”
The SNP MSP said he feared his party would be “tarnished by association” and would be “damaged” by supporting policies backed by the Greens on issues such as gender recognition and the deposit return scheme for drinks cans and bottles – both areas where Scottish Government attempts at reform failed.
Speaking about the former first minister, Mr Ewing said: “Things changed. I mean Nicola’s view changed and it seemed to me at least that she became obsessed with ideology, equality, gender form.”
Mr Ewing, who voted against same-sex marriage when it came before Holyrood, said he was “broadly representative of mainstream opinion in Scotland, which is to live and let live, respect other people, and treat other people as you would wish yourself to be treated”.
However, he added: “Government is there to run things. It’s not there to tell people how to live their lives.”
Since leaving the cabinet, Mr Ewing has become a prominent critic of the Scottish Government, speaking out on issues such as the failure to dual the A9 road between Perth and Inverness within the original timescale.
He pledged to continue to voice concerns, saying: “I’ve been speaking quite freely since I ceased to be a minister, but that’s my right as a backbencher, which I will continue to exercise quite vigorously.”
