Members of the Scottish Greens have backed a deal that will see its leaders in government for the first time.
With some proxy votes still to be counted, 83% of members who took part in an extraordinary general meeting were in favour.
The deal, which required a two-thirds majority of the party’s National Council, was then formally ratified.
Co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater said it promoted “a sustainable Scotland that works for everyone”.
SNP-Greens deal pledges indyref2 within five years
The pair will become government ministers under the power-sharing deal, with the Greens required to back the Scottish government in confidence votes and annual budgets as they work on a raft of agreed policy areas, including tackling the climate emergency, Scottish independence and rent controls.
Public disagreement between the parties will only be allowed on a set of agreed topics.
These include aviation policy, green ports, direct financial support to businesses involved in the aerospace, defence and security sectors, field sports and the economic principles related to concepts of sustainable growth and inclusive growth.
However, speaking during the EGM, Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer insisted that the list of subjects could be changed if further agreements or disagreements emerge.
Presentational grey line
Before this vote, Green leaders were anxious not to take membership support for granted – there are, after all, some radical elements in the party and there is more than a hint of anarchism too.
In the end, the lure of power proved highly persuasive. The co-operation agreement was emphatically endorsed by ordinary Greens and by the party’s National Council, as it was in a separate ballot of SNP members.
That means that Nicola Sturgeon can now formally appoint Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater as ministers in the Scottish government and seek Holyrood’s approval when MSPs return from their summer break next week.
The outcome of that and most other parliamentary votes is now a foregone conclusion because one of the key features of an SNP-Green government is that it will have a built-in majority for what they’ve agreed, including an indyref2 bill.
There are of course a range of policies including the desirability of economic growth, aviation, field sports and private schools that sit outside their agreement.
These topics and the compromises reached over road building and oil and gas extraction could be the source of future tension between the power-sharing partners.
The co-leaders insisted the agreement will be good for Scotland, the country’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis and contains “transformational” policies such as implementing rent controls.
Ms Slater, the newly-elected Lothian MSP, said the members’ overwhelming support would give the party “the tools we need to tackle the climate crisis and implement transformative politics in Scotland”.
She told BBC Scotland: “With the Scottish Greens at the heart of government, we will see some real changes. Things like rent controls will be transformative for people in Scotland.
“We can also accelerate the development of our renewable energy industry, which will create thousands of jobs as well as tackle the climate crisis.”
