Lib Dem leader signals party could back Sarwar as first minister
PA MediaScottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has signalled that his party could back Labour's Anas Sarwar in a vote to nominate a new first minister.
Cole-Hamilton said the Lib Dems would have an "obligation" to consider a change of government if they had the chance to oust the SNP after the 7 May Holyrood election.
However, he confirmed he would not support Conservative leader Russell Findlay or Reform chief Malcolm Offord in a vote to nominate a new first minister.
Speaking following the launch of his party's manifesto, Cole-Hamilton emphasised his party's priorities were the NHS, education, transport and the cost of living.
The Scottish Parliament will vote to nominate a first minister, who is formally appointed by the King, after the 7 May poll.
Nicola Sturgeon won the nomination in 2021 when her party returned 64 seats, just one shy of an outright majority. Her nomination was not supported by any other parties, but with no realistic chance of electing an alternative candidate the Greens and Labour abstained.
PA MediaCole-Hamilton told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast: "For all of the questions that Scotland currently faces, the answer to none of them is a third decade of SNP administration."
Asked if his party could vote to nominate Sarwar as first minister, should Labour be in a position to challenge the SNP, he replied: "If there's an opportunity to change the government in Scotland, I think we have an obligation to look at that.
"It doesn't mean forming a formal coalition, or anything like that, but I make no apology for that."
The Lib Dem leader said that no pacts or alliances has been agreed with Labour.
He told the BBC that if there was a chance to remove the SNP from power by backing a party "which shares our values, we will look seriously at that", adding: "But I'm not going to make a commitment."
Cole-Hamilton said that his party's focus was on returning as many MSPs as it could.
He pledged that the Lib Dems would invest £400m in social care, get the education system "back to its best", improve ferry services and the road network and drive down the cost of living.
Quizzed on his position on new North Sea oil and gas developments, the Lib Dem leader said: "We still need oil and gas. Successive governments, both in Edinburgh and London, have failed to drive down our need for oil and gas.
"While that is the case, we need to make an honest assessment - does it make more environmental sense to take the oil that's in our waters, on our doorstep, or to import it from other places?"
'Climate is final boss of 21st Century'
Although offshore drilling is controlled by Westminster, the Scottish government can make decisions on planning and onshore facilities which can affect offshore production.
Cole-Hamilton warned that the climate crisis was the "final boss of the 21st Century", adding: "So we absolutely need to drive that just transition."
The Liberal Democrats previously opposed nuclear energy - aligning with the Scottish government's view - but the party has since changed it stance.
Cole-Hamilton told Radio Scotland Breakfast that small modular reactors "should be part of the mix" because the party had concluded that the "threat" of nuclear waste was not as bad as it used to be.
He added: "We're not ideological about this, if it makes sense to have that part of the mix for when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining."