The Scottish National Party leader Humza Yousaf has announced his resignation after victory in two tabled no confidence votes appeared unlikely.
Announcing his resignation at midday, Yousaf said that “repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm.”
He said it had been “an honor to be First Minister of the country I love” and – having been the first South Asian First Minister – highlighted the unprecedented number of multicultural leaders in British politics.
“We now live in a U.K. that has a British-Hindu Prime Minister, a Muslim Mayor of London, a black Welsh First Minister.”
Yousaf announced that he would remain leader of the SNP until a new party leader is elected.
The move comes after Yousaf struggled to garner the majority backing required to defeat the two no confidence motions lodged against him following the collapse of the SNP’s power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens.
Yousaf stood by his decision to end the power-sharing deal, saying it was “the right decision for the country.”
However, Yousaf acknowledged that he had “underestimated the level of hurt and upset I caused the Green caucus” and that he could not maintain a minority government without the trust of opposition parties.
Under the Scottish Conservatives no confidence motion in the First Minister, Yousaf would have faced pressure to resign, whilst defeat in Labour’s motion of no confidence in the Scottish Government would have legally compelled his resignation and potentially force an election.
The Conservatives, Labour, Greens, and Liberal Democrats all said they would back the vote of no confidence in the First Minister.
With all parties announcing to vote against Yousaf, Ash Regan, a failed SNP leadership candidate who defected to the Alba Party, set herself up as a potential vote to save Yousaf in the vote of no confidence. If Regan and all SNP MSPs voted against the vote of no confidence, the resulting 64 vote tie would see Yousaf remain First Minister.
Speaking to Good Morning Scotland before the announcement, Scottish Labour MSP Paul O’Kane said that Labour’s no confidence vote was not “just about Humza Yousaf” and would still go ahead.
He said:
“This has been a story of chaos and the government is clearly in chaos and is failing the people of Scotland.”
“We cannot have another moment of change at the top of the SNP and those deck chairs being shuffled and the people of Scotland not having their say.”
However, the Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvey told GMS that whilst Yousaf cannot command a majority, they “stand ready to work with someone who can.”
“[The SNP] are capable of providing a stable minority government, they have a responsibility to do so and opposition parties have a responsibility to play their part.”
A SNP leadership contest will follow, with Yousaf’s former leadership opponent Kate Forbes considered a front runner.
Other speculated candidates include former Deputy Leader John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Education Jenny Gilruth, Energy Secretary Mairi McAllan, and Health Secretary Neil Gray.
This would be the second SNP leadership election since Nicola Sturgeon resigned last year after serving as First Minister for nine years.
The next SNP leader would face a vote in Holyrood to become First Minister, once again requiring the support of the Greens or the Alba Party.
Holyrood has 28 days to elect a new First Minister before a Scottish parliamentary election is automatically triggered.
Whilst the SNP have operated a minority government before, the new leader could struggle to once again unite a party held together by Scottish independence while disagreeing on other major policy areas.
With recent polling placing the SNP behind Labour for the first time since 2014, the new leader will need to turn the party’s favour around before the general election later this year and the planned 2026 Scottish Parliamentary election.
“First Minister Humza Yousaf” by Scottish Government is licensed under CC BY 2.0.