Humza Yousaf resigns as Scottish First Minister following days of political drama

Scotland's First Minister, Hamza Yousaf, resigns from leadership of SNP after political drama over power-sharing agreement with Greens.

Scotland’s First Minister, Hamza Yousaf, said he will resign as First Minister and from the leadership of the Scottish National Party (SNP) following days of political drama that unfolded after he ended the ‘Bute House’ power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens. Mr Yousaf said he would continue in the role of First Minister until a replacement was found.

Policy differences between the Greens and the SNP reached breaking point with the SNP backtracking on climate-related commitments earlier in April. Mr Yousaf decided to be the first to pull the plug on the relationship on April 25, as the Greens proposed an internal party vote on whether to stay in the power-sharing agreement. The outgoing First Minister had hoped to have a more informal set up with the Greens, built on issue-based support while leading a minority government (the SNP has 63 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament). However, the Greens did not appear ready to participate in this watered-down set up.

 “I clearly underestimated the level of hearts and upset that caused,” Mr Yousaf said, as he announced his resignation on Monday, from Bute House, his official residence in Edinburgh.

Within hours of the drama unfolding last week, unionist parties (the SNP is pro-Scottish independence) mounted an attack on Mr Yousaf and the SNP. The Scottish Conservatives tabled a no-confidence motion against Mr Yousaf and Scottish Labour tabled a motion against the SNP government. On Monday, Mr Yousaf said that while it was “absolutely possible” to have faced this week’s motions, he did not want to make deals that would compromise his values.

Mr Yousaf, 39, a first generation Briton and child of Pakistani immigrants said he could not imagine , as a child, that someone who looked like him could be First Minister.

“But we now live in a UK that has a British Hindu Prime Minister, a Muslim Mayor of London at Black Welsh First Minister,: he said, adding that this was evidence that multiculturalism in the U.K. had not failed.

He talked about a needing a fairer tax system and the descent into “a toxic culture war”.