A final deal between the Scottish Greens and Nicola Sturgeon’s minority government has been delayed by wrangling over climate, marine policy and the role of Green ministers.
Negotiators are running out of time to agree the deal before the first minister unveils her government’s legislative and policy agenda for the next year in the Scottish parliament on 31 August.
The Guardian understands Scottish government officials hope to put the final deal before Sturgeon’s cabinet on Tuesday 17 August – the first time the Scottish National party has shared power at Holyrood during 14 years in government.
Although one source cautioned the talks could still collapse, the Scottish Greens anticipate the deal will include appointing two Green MSPs – expected to be their co-leaders, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater – as junior ministers.
Civil servants are now finalising detailed rules on the roles and obligations Green ministers will have in government, including limiting their ability to openly dissent from government policies.
It is understood one Scottish government paper will specifically set out how that arrangement will work, alongside a separate paper detailing the joint policy agenda Sturgeon expects to unveil on 31 August.
The Scottish Greens sees this deal as a major breakthrough as it will be the first time a Green party in the UK has been part of a national government.
Unlike previous power-sharing pacts at Westminster and Holyrood, the terms of this deal fall short of a full coalition, where both sides are bound by collective responsibility. That has forced civil servants, the Greens and the Scottish National party to find new ways of agreeing on the rules governing both sides.
But anxieties are mounting within the Scottish Greens over the time left for their 7,500 party members to approve the deal. Its constitution requires a power-sharing deal at Holyrood to be put to a full vote of the membership, and a two-thirds majority vote by its ruling council.
An extraordinary general meeting has been arranged for Saturday this weekend, after the Greens scrapped plans to hold a question and answer session last Friday and a council meeting on Saturday in the absence of a deal being signed last week.
It is now expected the party will timetable a further emergency meeting for 28 August to authorise the deal, three days before Sturgeon addresses MSPs on her programme for government.
However, in one area which may cause significant dissent from transgender rights activists in the party, there are doubts over whether the deal will include agreement on reform of Scotland’s gender rights legislation.
Alongside disputes over fish stocks and marine conservation, it is understood there have been intense negotiations over whether Sturgeon’s government will change its policies on the climate emergency, road-building and on the future of North Sea oil.
Sturgeon is under intense pressure to oppose the licensing of the new Cambo oilfield west of Shetland, after the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said last week it should be blocked. The first minister was challenged by climate activists in her constituency last weekend to support calls for it to be refused.
The Greens, who won eight seats in May’s Holyrood elections, also believe the Scottish government should commit to a firm end date for North Sea oil extraction but have signalled they expect to compromise on how far Sturgeon needs to go.
Green officials argue that since Scottish ministers do not control North Sea licensing, winning significant new measures to promote home energy efficiency, green transport policies and climate-friendly farming will bolster Scotland’s quest to reach net zero earlier than the UK as a whole.