Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf resigned on Monday in the latest setback for his Scottish National Party, which has been embroiled in a slow-moving crisis over a funding scandal that erupted after its popular leader Nicola Sturgeon resigned last year. .
Yousaf’s departure looked increasingly inevitable after he gambled last week to end a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Green Party, angering its leaders and leaving him at the head of a minority government with no obvious allies. His opponents then pushed for two no-confidence motions, which were expected to take place later this week.
After exploring his options over several tense days, Yousaf, who was Scotland’s first Muslim leader, said he would resign in a speech on Monday at Bute House in Edinburgh, the official residence of the Scottish first minister.
“After spending the weekend reflecting on what is best for my party, for the government and for the country I lead, I have come to the conclusion that repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be achieved with someone more in charge,” Yousaf said. he said in a brief and at times emotional statement.
He added: “My intention is to continue as prime minister until my successor is elected.”
His resignation came after just over a year as leader of the SNP, which has dominated the country’s politics for more than a decade and is campaigning for Scottish independence.
Yousaf took over after the surprise resignation of Sturgeon, a prominent figure in British politics, who announced her departure in February last year. At the time, Yousaf was seen as the continuity candidate.
But that ceased to be an advantage when Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, was arrested and later charged in connection with embezzling funds while he was the party’s long-serving chief executive. Ms Sturgeon was also arrested in the same investigation, but she has not been charged.
With the funding scandal looming over the SNP, Yousaf was struggling to assert himself as leader, and the crisis coincided with diminishing prospects for a new referendum on Scottish independence, the party’s main concern. In a 2014 referendum, Scots voted to remain in the United Kingdom by 55.3 percent, and polls suggest just over half of voters still reject independence.
The SNP’s problems have been an advantage for Britain’s main opposition Labor Party, which once dominated Scottish politics but saw its support there collapse in the mid-2010s amid the growing debate over Scottish independence.
Labour’s recent recovery in Scotland could deliver a number of seats there in a general election scheduled for later this year, something that would significantly ease party leader Keir Starmer’s path to 10 Downing Street, the official home. of the British Prime Minister.
But the latest blow to the SNP – Yousaf’s resignation – was largely self-inflicted.
The party’s power-sharing deal with the Greens, reached by Sturgeon in August 2021, allowed the SNP to retain power after emerging as the largest party in that year’s election, but failed to win an outright majority.
In recent weeks, the Greens had been unhappy after the Scottish Government backtracked on its promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 75 per cent by 2030.
There was also tension between the parties over the decision by the Scottish National Health Service to suspend the prescription of puberty blockers and other hormonal treatments for minors. This followed an independent review of gender services in England by Hilary Cass, a paediatrician.
The Greens had planned to consult their members about whether they would remain in the coalition, but Yousaf preempted that decision last week by terminating the deal himself.
He seemed to assume he could continue to lead a minority government with the tacit support of the Greens, but the peremptory way in which he ended the deal infuriated the party. When the Scottish Conservative Party pushed for a no-confidence vote against Yousaf, which was expected this week, the Greens said they would vote against him.
Labor then demanded a vote of confidence in the Scottish government, presenting two huge hurdles for Yousaf to overcome.
His failure to win new support underlined the fractious nature of Scottish politics. He could have kept his seat if he had struck a deal with Ash Regan, a former rival who left the SNP to join another pro-independence party called Alba. But Alba is led by Alex Salmond, a former first minister and SNP leader who had a spectacular clash with Sturgeon, once his protégé.
The prospect of a deal with Alba seemed too much for the SNP’s progressive wing, leaving some form of new deal with the Greens as the clearest option to save the government and avoid a premature Scottish election.
But the Greens were in no mood to forgive Mr Yousaf. After he ended their deal last week, Greens co-leader Lorna Slater accused the SNP of “an act of cowardice” and added that Yousaf “could no longer be trusted”.
On Monday, Yousaf admitted that he had “clearly underestimated the level of pain and discomfort” he had caused. “For a minority government to govern effectively and efficiently, trust when working with the opposition is clearly essential,” he said.
Adding that “I was not willing to change my values and principles or make deals with anyone simply to retain power,” he paid an emotional tribute to his family and noted that politics was sometimes a “brutal business.”