Greens join forces with Holyrood Independents

INDEPENDENT and Green MSPs have joined forces to win greater clout in proceedings at the Scottish Parliament.

Greens Patrick Harvie and Alison Johnstone struck a deal with Independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald and Jean Urquhart and John Finnie, who recently resigned from the SNP, to form an informal grouping.

The deal means they have the minimum five members to secure a place on the parliament bureau, giving them a say in planning business and the opportunity to contribute more to debates.

But the grouping does not constitute a new party and none of the MSPs are switching their allegiances.

In a statement they said: “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.”

The statement added: “No MSP has changed, or plans on changing, their party affiliation or on taking positions different to those they have taken in the past.”