EX-SNP members who quit over NATO form new alliance with Margo MacDonald and Green Party

Published on 22/11/2012 11:41

A new alliance has been formed at Holyrood between the Greens and a trio of pro-nationalist independent MSPs.

• MSPs from Green Party and Independents, including former SNP members Jean Urquhart and John Finnie, form working group

• Patrick Harvie, Alison Johnstone and Margo MacDonald also part of new alliance

Patrick Harvie and Alison Johnstone of the Scottish Green Party have reached an agreement with Independent MSPs Margo MacDonald, Jean Urquhart and John Finnie to establish a working group under the Parliament’s Standing Orders.

Ms Urquart and Mr Finnie quit the SNP last month after the party voted to change policy and scrap its opposition to the nuclear-armed NATO defence partnership.

The new alliance will give the MSPs involved representation on the influential Parliamentary Bureau which decides Holyrood business, in turn providing them with further opportunities to contribute to debates in the Chamber.

A joint statement issued by the Independent/Green Group agreed this statement said the alliance was formed to “enhance our ability to represent our constituents.”

It added: “Although every member of our grouping is pro-independence and believes strongly in a more equal, sustainable Scotland, it is by no means a formal, party-based arrangement; no MSP has changed, or plans on changing, their party affiliation or on taking positions different to those they have taken in the past.

“We all look forward to pushing for an independent, fair and peaceful Scotland both inside and outside of Parliament, and to working with MSPs across the Chamber to achieve these goals.”