Any deal with SNP would need to be ‘right one for us’, Greens co-leader says

Any deal with the SNP after the next Holyrood election “would have to be the right one for us”, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens has said.

Gillian Mackay was speaking on BBC’s The Sunday Show, where she was asked whether her party would be willing to join forces with the SNP if John Swinney’s party failed to win a majority.

The Central Scotland MSP said Mr Swinney had not spoken to the Greens about a potential deal, but said trust would have to be “rebuilt” between the parties first, following the collapse of the Bute House Agreement last year.

“Any deal that comes forward from the SNP would have to be the right one for us,” she said.

“There’s a lot of trust that needs rebuilt there as well.

“A lot of the things we had in the original Bute House Agreement have gone backwards or have stalled badly, and aren’t actually going to happen this session at all.

“So whatever was in that deal would have to be the right thing for us.

“There would have to be commitments on on climate and social justice amongst other things, and we would need to have the same democratic process we had the last time.

“I don’t think my members would accept anything less. So ultimately it would have to be the right deal for us as a party.”

Ms Mackay was also asked about her party’s commitment to Scottish independence, and it was pointed out there is no motion discussing independence at the party’s conference in Edinburgh this weekend.

Ms Mackay insisted the party’s commitment to independence “hasn’t changed”.

“I was a no voter at the last referendum, and what I’ve seen since then is actually why we need to be independent,” she said.

“The constraints of devolution and the constant constraints that are put on us and decisions overturned by the Scottish Parliament, shows that we need those powers of a normal country to be able to make those decisions make Scotland better, and stop having to correct other governments’ mistakes.”

The Scottish Greens have seen a surge in party membership over the last few months, and numbers are currently as high as they have been for around a decade.

The party has also enjoyed “record polling” in recent weeks, with Mr Greer saying they believe they can “rewrite Scottish politics” by overtaking Labour at the 2026 election.