SNP leadership contest: Kate Forbes' victory could end coalition with Scottish Greens – Brian Wilson

SNP leadership candidate Kate Forbes intimated this week that she would scrap the consultation on “highly protected marine areas” (HPMAs) in terms which excoriated the way policy is made within the Scottish Government.

While very welcome in coastal communities where plans to ban all forms of economic activity within “at least ten per cent” of Scotland’s inshore waters have been branded “insane”, Forbes’ stance has far wider implications. It was difficult to understand “why anyone in government” would think this a good idea, she said. A “competent government” should look at the overall impact of policy rather than making it in “silos”. Plans for HPMAs represented “an example of how not to do government”.

While all this can hardly have delighted her SNP ministerial colleagues, implications for Greens in government are terminal if Forbes wins. On radio yesterday, their co-leader, Patrick Harvie, insisted that sticking to the grandly named Bute House Agreement is critical to them remaining.

Since enforcing HPMAs is one of its highest priorities, it is axiomatic that Forbes winning will mean Harvie and Lorna Slater departing. On the other hand, if Humza Yousaf wins, it will equally clearly be as a prisoner of “silo” policies nobody voted for, and no “competent government” would impose.

The Scottish Government is consulting on plans to protect large areas of the sea (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Another commitment by Forbes that will create consternation in St Andrew’s House is to give local councils more powers on the grounds that maybe they know best about managing their own environments and communities. Now, that really does strike at the heart of both Nationalism and Greenery.