HUMZA Yousaf has sacked Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater as ministers, turfing the Scottish Greens out of government.

The First Minister summoned the two Green co-leaders to Bute House on Thursday morning ahead of an emergency Cabinet meeting.

It has been reported he dismissed them from their posts and they left the building before the Cabinet meeting began.

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It appears Yousaf's hand was forced as Scottish Green members considered whether they wanted to stay in government after a series of policy disagreements with the SNP.

Drawing a line under less than two years of the Scottish Greens’ involvement in Government, Yousaf said at a press conference in Bute House on Thursday that the agreement had reached its "natural conclusion". 

He said: "It is no longer guaranteeing a stable arrangement in Parliament, the events of recent days have made that clear, and therefore, after careful consideration, I believe that going forward it is in the best interest of the people of Scotland to pursue a different arrangement.

“That is why, following a discussion with my Cabinet this morning, I have formally notified Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater that I am terminating the Bute House Agreement with immediate effect.”

He said the day marks a “new beginning for this SNP Government”.

In a blistering statement released shortly after she was fired from government, Slater blasted the First Minister, accusing him of "political cowardice". 

She said: "This is an act of political cowardice by the SNP, who are selling out future generations to appease the most reactionary forces in the country.

“By ending the agreement in such a weak and thoroughly hopeless way, Humza Yousaf has signalled that when it comes to political co-operation, he can no longer be trusted.”

Slater accused the SNP of having “broken the bonds of trust with members of both parties” and said it had “betrayed the electorate”.

The Greens had planned to hold a vote on the future of the Bute House Agreement – which was signed when Nicola Sturgeon was first minister.

In response to the end of the powersharing deal, Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: “This chaotic and incompetent Government is falling apart before our eyes.

“Humza Yousaf is too weak to hold his own Government together and he is too weak to deliver for Scotland.”

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said: “The collapse of this toxic coalition is an utter humiliation for Humza Yousaf, who hailed it as ‘worth its weight in gold’ and continued to back it to the hilt right until the end.

“The First Minister’s judgment is so poor that he couldn’t see what a malign influence the anti-growth Greens have been in Government and his authority so weak that he was bounced into this U-turn by his own MSPs.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the end of the agreement had left the SNP and Greens “at each others’ throats”.

He added: “They are now trying to blame each other, but in reality they have both failed the people of Scotland.”