The fall of Humza Yousaf

It has all ended in tears for “Humza the Brief”. Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf’s thirteen-month premiership, which has played out in the long shadow of Operation Branchform, Police Scotland’s investigation into SNP finances, has come to an end.

In his resignation speech today, he said he was not willing to make deals to overcome the impending confidence votes in the Scottish parliament where the SNP is the largest party but has a minority. Healing the political divide in Scotland, he added, must be done by another leader. 

There will now most likely be an SNP leadership election (the second in two years), although the party could delay that by appointing an interim leader. All we can be sure of at the moment is that the SNP and Scotland face a future of political uncertainty that has cheered up Unionists tremendously.

Yousaf’s downfall was precipitated by disagreements with the Scottish Greens, specifically over climate and trans rights legislation. He ended the powersharing agreement last week, hoping that the SNP could govern effectively with a minority of 63 MSPs in Holyrood. That means the government would have been forced to gain support for its legislation from other parties on a case-by-case basis. 

Yousaf today admitted that he underestimated the hurt his termination of the Bute House agreement would cause to his Green colleagues. He did not admit his failure to foresee the confidence votes that would be tabled against him and his party.

Former first minister and Alba leader Alex Salmond told Radio 4 that Yousaf had phoned Alba early this morning to negotiate a deal, but was blocked by the SNP “old guard”. No details of who constituted that old guard were forthcoming. 

The content of Yousaf’s resignation speech was predictable to those familiar with his political outlook. He mentioned minority rights, spoke of the success of British multiculturalism, rebuked populism and reminded the country of his strong stance on Israel’s war in Gaza. He started tearing up as he thanked his family for their support. 

Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader in Westminster, said: “Humza Yousaf has served Scotland with integrity, compassion and commitment. The challenges he has faced have been huge, yet at every turn he has led from the front. There can be no doubt that he has now laid the groundwork required to take our country forward.”

Flynn, who some had speculated would be in the running to take over from Yousaf, publicly backed the MSP for Perthshire North and former SNP leader, John Swinney. “There’s only one person with the experience to do the job and unite the party. I would encourage John Swinney to stand,” he told the News Agents podcast. 

Swinney, who thanked the outgoing first minister for “leading the country with empathy, care and an emphasis always on bringing people together,” said he was “actively considering” standing for SNP leadership. Kate Forbes, another contender for the leadership, said: “As First Minister Humza Yousaf cared passionately about Scotland. Few of us will forget his statesmanship and compassion on Gaza. He is an honourable man, who displayed dignity and humility today. I wish him and Nadia well with their impending new arrival in the summer.” Forbes has not commented on whether she will run.

Yousaf’s resignation has thrown into sharp relief the significance of who a government chooses to get into bed with. There is always someone to the right or left of a government, and the Greens were always more progressive than large parts of the SNP. When faced with fiscal or biological reality, whether on climate targets or on trans rights, Yousaf as leader was accountable to the country and had to go against his progressive ideals. Co-leaders of the Scottish Greens Patrick Harvey and Lorna Slater, as Jenny Hjul so eloquently wrote in Reaction last week, had no such obligations to surrender to reality nor the electorate, despite their important positions. Yet, the Faustian pact that Nicola Sturgeon made with the Greens, a difficult inheritance for Yousaf, gave them outsized power and influence.

Yousaf said in his resignation speech that Scottish independence is “frustratingly close”. After 17 years of SNP governments that have yielded little improvements in most aspects of Scottish life, few would agree with that claim. Add to that a potential Labour revival as the polls suggest in this year’s general elections, and Yousaf’s comment seems nothing short of outlandish.

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