EXCLUSIVE: Patrick Harvie Slams Veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing as "Out of Step With the Future"
Key Highlights :
Scottish Green Party co-leader Patrick Harvie has branded veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing an "angry old man" following a spate of attacks on his party. Harvie said Ewing was "out of step with his party and out of step with the future".
The criticism comes as some Nationalists question whether Nicola Sturgeon was right to sign a power-sharing agreement between the SNP and Greens following the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Ewing has previously dismissed the Greens as "wine bar revolutionaries" and claimed their policies were driving a wedge between the Scottish Government and businesses across the country.
But Harvie shrugged off such criticisms and said he was proud of the work the two parties had done so far. Speaking to the Record, he said: "If the cost of being able to get some green policies acted on is our name gets thrown around a bit by folk like Fergus Ewing, I can live with that. If you weren't making a difference in politics then no one would be talking about the influence you were having."
Harvie pointed to Humza Yousaf's recent commitment to a progressive tax regime as an area where the parties were working well together. "It's tough for everybody out there, but it's also tough for government to deliver on its commitments with a reduced budget in real terms," he said. "I think we've done a pretty good stint at that. And in particular, we have continued the move towards progressive taxation, which is in contrast to tax cuts for the richest down south."
A recent meeting of the Greens national council reviewed the Bute House agreement and found just "two or three" members questioning whether it should continue. Harvie added: "Overwhelmingly, the party seems to support what we are doing. I think that is reflected in opinion polls. They have been a bit wobbly for other parties, but they have broadly encouraging from our point of view."
But critics of the power-sharing deal remain - with Ewing among the most vocal. The Inverness MSP told the Sunday Mail earlier this month : "There is now a very prevalent view, especially in rural Scotland, that the Green tail is wagging the SNP dog."
Harvie responded: "Greens and the SNP are working in a partnership. Fergus doesn't like that, but he's been hostile to Green politics since forever. The electorate didn't give the SNP an outright majority and so they need to work together with others. Given every time he speaks in parliament the Tories are whooping from the other side of the chamber, maybe he would rather SNP were working with them? I don't think most SNP voters would want that.
"Fergus has been around a while, he's looking forward to his retirement. I can imagine a few SNP colleagues are looking forward to his retirement as well." He added: "If the government was to follow the demands Fergus was making on oil and gas, on road building, on opposing a whole host of environmental measures, they would effectively be dumping on the younger generations' chance of a decent future at the behest of an angry old man at the end of what has been a very privileged career. I think he's out of step with his party and he's certainly out of step with the future."
Ewing responded to Harvie's comments, saying: "Patrick accuses me of being old - I am 65, guilty as charged. But please note, quite a few other Daily Record readers are in the dock beside me. He also says I'm privileged. Well, after running my own business for nearly two decades, I’ve since been elected six times as a constituency MSP.
"In contrast, Patrick has lost every attempt to persuade people to vote for him - but still got into Holyrood through the back door via the list. I am indeed furious that failure to dual the A9 by 2025 has cost so many lives. And I am indeed irate beyond words that the Greens want to decimate 60,000 jobs in our world class oil and gas industry."
He added: "The truth is, the Scottish Greens are just not fit for government. So my plea to Humza is - ditch the Green deal, before it destroys us as a national party."
It is clear that Patrick Harvie and Fergus Ewing are on opposite sides of the political spectrum when it comes to the power-sharing agreement between the SNP and Greens. Harvie believes that the agreement is beneficial for Scotland's future, while Ewing believes it is detrimental to the nation's economy and job prospects. It remains to be seen whether the two parties will be able to come to an agreement that satisfies both sides in the coming months.
