By Lucy Adautin
Leader of the Scottish National Party, Humza Yousaf, has stepped down as Scotland’s first Minister, initiating the quest for a new successor and first minister.
He said he had “underestimated” the level of hurt after ending a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens last week
Yousaf said he felt no “ill will” or “grudge” towards his opposition colleagues, but acknowledged that “politics can be a brutal business”.
Pressure mounted on the SNP leader following his decision to terminate a power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens the previous week.
Opposition parties within the Scottish Parliament had proposed two votes of confidence, one targeting the first minister and another aimed at the SNP government.
The Scottish Greens have said Humza Yousaf’s resignation as First Minister was the “right” decision.
The party’s co-leader Patrick Harvie said the development was “regrettable” but welcomed the “personal responsibility” Yousaf has taken.
He said: “Humza Yousaf is right to resign. His position was no longer tenable after he broke the bonds of trust with the Scottish Greens and with everyone who wanted a stable, progressive, pro-independence government. It is regrettable that it has ended this way, it didn’t need to. We draw no satisfaction or pleasure from this.
Yousaf faced challenges in garnering sufficient support to maintain leadership of a minority government.
READ ALSO: Nigeria: Tribunal Stops South African PayTv Provider From Hiking Subscription Rates
He had written to Scotland’s opposition parties asking them to find “common ground” ahead of the confidence votes.
The first minister’s decision to end the Bute House Agreement – the power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens – followed a backlash over the SNP scrapping 2030 climate targets and gender policies.
The Greens criticized Yousaf for “betraying future generations” and were scheduled to vote on whether to continue their alliance with the SNP.
With 63 MSPs in the 129-seat parliament, the SNP’s fate relies on the votes of the seven Green MSPs. If they oppose him, Yousaf would need support from the sole Alba party MSP, Ash Regan, to retain his position.
Alba’s backing would result in a 64:64 deadlock, potentially leading the presiding officer to cast the deciding vote to maintain the current situation.
Although a motion of no confidence against him is non-binding, losing it would subject Yousaf to significant pressure to resign.
If he lost the government vote, MSPs would have 28 days to vote for a new first minister or automatically trigger a Scottish Parliament election.
Scottish Labour has said the motion of no-confidence in the Scottish government would remain tabled even if Yousaf resigns.
Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said Yousay had “jumped before being pushed” by the no confidence vote which they had tabled.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “We saw off Nicola Sturgeon and now Humza Yousaf. Now we work to remove this entire rotten SNP government from office.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton declined an offer of talks with Yousaf over the weekend and called for him to resign.
“Minority government works on trust, he has none,” he wrote. “His priorities are not the people’s priorities and he is clearly only motivated now by political survival.”
The Scottish Greens, who had been hoping to become the decision-makers on the future of the power-sharing deal, said Yousaf had broken trust with their party but they “stand ready” to work with someone else.
In addition to the scrapping of the climate targets, some party members were also unhappy about the Scottish government considering implementing recommendations of the Cass Review of child gender services in England and Wales.
It warned that children have been let down by a lack of research and “remarkably weak” evidence on medical interventions.
Green party co-leader Patrick Harvie told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme that there was “distress” among members that children would not be able to get medical treatment to change gender after NHS Scotland paused puberty blocker drugs for under-18s.
Jen Bell, from the party’s LGBT arm Rainbow Greens, called for a vote on the power-sharing agreement. This was scheduled to take place at the end of May.
Yousaf’s resignation comes weeks after his 39th birthday and little more than a year after he became Scotland’s first minister.
His appointment followed his steady rise up the ranks of the SNP since he first became an MSP in 2011.
A year after winning a seat, he was made minister for Europe and international development, a position he held for nearly four years.
He then enjoyed a series of promotions, becoming transport secretary in 2016, justice secretary in 2019, and health secretary in 2021.
