Meeting of the Parliament 21 May 2026 [Draft]
The Scottish Greens recognise the right of the SNP, as the largest elected party, to form the Government. I offer my sincere congratulations to all the appointed cabinet secretaries and ministers. I am delighted by the gender balance of the Cabinet and I offer my especial best wishes to Jenny Gilruth, the new Deputy First Minister. I offer my solidarity to Hannah Mary Goodlad and Simita Kumar: going straight into a ministerial role as a first-time parliamentarian is a tough gig. I have every confidence that they will do really well, but I do not underestimate the challenge ahead of them. There is a steep learning curve.
The Scottish Greens are sad to see Jenni Minto leaving Government. We thank her for her service and, particularly, her support on the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024. Supporting women to get the healthcare that they need is something that we can all be proud of.
Members, it is 2026 and, in only four years, it will be 2030. The SNP Government has promised a lot by 2030—a lot of targets are coming due. This is going to be the “find out” Parliament. By 2030, the Government is supposed to have stopped the decline of our biodiversity and started on the road to nature restoration on a national scale. That is an international commitment that Scotland made on the world stage as we led the Edinburgh process on biodiversity. The Scottish Greens will hold Gillian Martin and Jim Fairlie to the delivery of that commitment. Stephen Flynn on transport and Stephen Gethins on energy will need to make the changes necessary to meet the key 2030 milestones on our journey to net zero carbon emissions, as set out in the carbon budgeting framework. Shirley-Anne Somerville will have her hands full, delivering the 36,000 affordable homes that the Scottish Government has promised by 2030.
If the Government does not want this term to be a litany of failure, cowardice and backtracking, it is going to need to take bold steps quickly. Whether it is introduced by Shirley-Anne Somerville under housing, Stephen Gethins under energy or Gillian Martin under climate, a heat in buildings bill needs to come back—and it needs to pass. We have no chance of meeting our climate targets while people in Scotland are living in poorly insulated, draughty homes, which they are forced to heat using oil and gas because of a lack of heat networks, district heating and a national ambition to install low-carbon heating. The lack of that ambition in the past is going to hit particularly hard next winter: with the Strait of Hormuz still effectively closed, it is likely that the price of oil and gas will climb to astronomical heights. The SNP’s historical failure to act is trapping millions into high heating costs. We are about to find out what the consequences of that are.
All the easy stuff on climate and fair taxation has been done; what is left is the hard stuff. The Deputy First Minister is going to have to reform council tax if we are to have any chance of keeping our front-line public services sustainable. Stephen Flynn, Tom Arthur, Jim Fairlie and Gillian Martin are going to have to make some difficult decisions about transportation, industry and land management if they are to meet the Government’s own climate and nature targets.
We already see the costs of wildfires and floods. We already see alarming losses of pollinators and seabirds. We see the encroachment of invasive species, such as rhododendron, into our last few remnants of native rainforest, and we are down to our last few capercaillie. Will this be the Government that loses the last of the rainforest? Will its actions lead to the loss of capercaillie and other species, for ever? We are going to find out.
I want this Government to stand up to the challenge, to take on the mantle of the 2030 species threat abatement and restoration targets that it set for itself and to be able to confidently say, in four years, that it has succeeded. I want that more than I can say.
The legacy of a particular Government or minister can last until the next election, or it can last for generations. I ask each and every one of the ministers who is being appointed today to think for the long term, to build a sustainable and fair Scotland and to be bold.