THE Scottish Greens will not be entitled to a leaders question at FMQs, the presiding officer has announced.
The party will also not automatically be called to speak at the start and close of debates.
And, the party’s short money, public funds available to political parties to assist MSPs to perform their parliamentary duties, will be reduced by £15,687.61 now that co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater are ministers.
In a message to MSPs this afternoon, presiding officer Alison Johnstone said she hoped members would agree the changes “recognise” the nature of the co-operation agreement and would be fair for all parties in the Chamber.
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Johnstone said in her letter to MSPs that the agreement is “unparalleled” in Scotland and the UK, but noted it stops short of being equivalent to the coalition governments in place after the Scottish Parliamentary elections in 1999 and 2003 when Labour and the LibDems reached an agreement.
She wrote: “However, the scope of the agreement (and accompanying shared policy programme) together with the 'no surprises' approach to matters of parliamentary business establishes a different relationship between the Scottish Government and Green group than exists between any other parties and the position of the Scottish Greens as the third largest opposition party in the Parliament is fundamentally altered.
“The agreement therefore requires a bespoke response here at Holyrood, one which draws on precedents and practices, is fair to all parties represented in the Parliament, and is commensurate with the requirements of robust parliamentary scrutiny.”
Whether or not the Scottish Greens would keep their slot at FMQs has been a recent topic of debate, but it was confirmed by Johnstone that their entitlement will now be removed.
The Scottish Parliament will decide whether or not Harvie and Slater will become ministers
Johnstone said: “In my view, the nature of the co-operation agreement, which would see the two Greens co-leaders being appointed as junior Scottish ministers, removes their entitlement to a leader’s question at FMQs.
“It is, instead, my intention to allocate the Greens a backbench question in three weeks out of six, and further, to call them at question three in two of those six weeks.”
On ministerial statements, the current arrangement allows for questions from the Greens and LibDems to be taken before any backbenchers on statements of “particular significance”.
However, Johnstone said: “My deputies and I do not now intend to call the Greens in this position unless the topic of the statement is not covered by an area of co-operation set out in the agreement.”
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The Greens will also lose their slot at the opening and closing of speaking during a debate, unless “a Green Party amendment to the motion for debate has been selected”.
The Greens will now be allocated a speaking slot during each debate, in the same way as allocated to the LibDems.
The Greens will also lose their ability to bring an opposition debate. Currently the Parliamentary Bureau is required to set aside 16 half sitting days each year for opposition parties. As the co-operation agreement will see Harvie and Slater as ministers, the Greens will not be allocated any of those half days.
Greens on the backbench can still ask questions that aren’t part of FMQs, such as portfolio and general questions, and to request topical, urgent and SPCB questions.
Johnstone added: “It is established convention that ministers do not lodge questions. It is my view that the co-operation agreement would allow ministers from the Greens to submit questions only on matters where they are not bound by collective responsibility or on topics not subject to the agreement and shared policy programme and I would otherwise expect them to respect this convention.
The Greens have lost their entitlement to ask a question at FMQs
“In addition, I would request that those ministers do not submit general questions as I wish to avoid a situation where a minister could be asking and answering questions at the same item of business.”
As ministers do not sit on Scottish Parliament committees, as part of long-standing convention, Johnstone wrote: “It is my expectation that Lorna Slater MSP and Patrick Harvie MSP should resign their committee membership should they be appointed as ministers this afternoon.
“The Greens’ entitlement to convenerships and deputy convenerships remains the same.”
The Greens will also lose out on £15,687.61 of their short money, but will not completely lose out on ongoing support.
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) has said that it provides payments for parties “providing fewer than 20% of the ministerial team”, so they will still be entitled to some of the fund.
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The reduction was applied from the date when the ministerial appointments were made, so does not amount to a full year, as Parliament is due to approve their appointments this afternoon.
Next year, and thereafter, the short money will be reduced by £9000 per minister, totalling £18,000.
Johnstone added: “I hope colleagues will agree that this approach to parliamentary business is one that both recognises the nature of the co-operation agreement, supports robust parliamentary scrutiny, respects the representative role of all members and is fair for all parties across the Chamber.
"I intend to keep the matters set out above under review.”
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