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Scotland’s zero-carbon buildings minister sacked as SNP ends Green coalition
Scotland’s minister for zero-carbon buildings and tenants’ rights has been sacked as the SNP ended its coalition with the Green Party.
Patrick Harvie was dismissed from the Scottish government this morning along with his fellow Green MSP Lorna Slater by first minister Humza Yousaf.
Mr Harvie had been in post since 2021 and was instrumental to the government’s plans for private sector rent controls and homelessness prevention duties for landlords, which featured in the Housing Bill published last month.
He had also proposed a Heat in Buildings Bill, which would ban fossil fuel heating in all homes by 2045 and bring in minimum efficiency standards for all homes by 2033 and private landlords by 2028.
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Mr Yousaf’s SNP will now run Scotland as a minority government, while the first minister will face a vote of no confidence early next week that could be supported by the Greens.
“This is a total U-turn,” Mr Harvie said. “The first minister has decided, I’m sorry to say, to capitulate to the most reactionary, backward-looking forces of the SNP, and it’s the opposite of what is in Scotland’s best interest.”
Mr Yousaf said that the coalition had “served its purpose” and was “no longer guaranteeing a stable arrangement in parliament”.
“The events of recent days have made that clear,” he added.
The SNP’s decision to terminate its coalition with the Greens came after Scotland scrapped yearly climate change targets and a key pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030.
Mr Harvie defended the move at the time, telling Inside Housing that his commitment to “ending Scotland’s contribution to global emissions as soon as possible, and by 2045 at the latest”, was “unwavering”.
Paul McLennan, Scotland’s SNP housing minister, remains in post, with responsibilities for the affordable housebuilding programme, cladding and attracting more housing investment.
It is unclear whether Mr McLennan will now take on Mr Harvie’s duties or a new SNP zero-carbon buildings minister will be appointed.
Sally Thomas, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, said that the end of the coalition should be marked by “an urgent reset on the huge cut to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme”, which is “already faltering” due to a lack of investment.
She added: “Irrespective of which political parties are in government, Scotland is in desperate need of more social homes. This can only be delivered through sustained public investment.”
Mr Harvie’s dismissal raised renewed calls from developers for the government to scrap its rent control plans.
Maria Francké, chair of the Scottish Property Federation, said: “Unless we see the current rent controls proposals amended, we are in danger of Scotland losing up to £3bn of build-to-rent led investment.”
