Grovelling Humza's begging letters to his political rivals

Humza Yousaf has sent humiliating ‘begging’ letters to opposition leaders in a desperate bid to avoid being ousted as First Minister.

The ‘lame duck’ SNP leader has asked his political rivals to meet him in the coming days to try to find ‘common ground’ after the extraordinary fallout from his decision to dump the Scottish Greens from government and run a minority administration.

Mr Yousaf faces two votes of no confidence at Holyrood this week – one against himself put forward by the Tories and one against his government proposed by Labour. 

His grovelling letters were sent yesterday to the leaders of the Tories, Labour, the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and Alex Salmond’s Alba Party.

He is particularly desperate to persuade former SNP Minister Ash Regan, now the Alba leader at Holyrood, to support him.

His fate may well lie in her hands as Ms Regan – who Mr Yousaf said was ‘no great loss to the SNP’ when she defected to Alba last year – could have the casting vote in the no confidence ballot against him.

She has already submitted a list of demands, including over independence and gender, to the First Minister before she decides whether to help keep him in office.

Allies of Ms Regan have confirmed she has received his letter asking her for a meeting and that there is an emergency Alba National Executive Committee meeting this morning to discuss what her red lines will be in her negotiations with the SNP leader.

They say she will be likely to call on him to strengthen his independence plans, move away from identity politics, accept the findings of the Cass gender treatment review and invest properly in key public services such as the NHS and education.

Holyrood arithmetic dictates that Mr Yousaf needs at least 64 of the 129 MSPs to support him in order to win the no confidence vote in him as First Minister.

This is due to the fact that Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone will back the status quo in the event of a tie.

The SNP has 63 MSPs, leaving Mr Yousaf one short of the number he needs to reach.

It is possible Mr Yousaf could win over one or two Green MSPs – but that seems highly unlikely given the poor relations between the parties in the wake of his decision to abruptly terminate the power sharing deal last week.

But other opposition parties appeared to be unmoved by Mr Yousaf’s impassioned plea for support.

The dumped Greens, the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats are yet to confirm if they will even meet with the First Minister. 

Last night Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, who has written back to Mr Yousaf but not said if he will accept his invitation to Bute House, said: ‘This is a humiliating and embarrassing letter, in which Humza Yousaf is begging to be allowed to keep his job.

‘His belated abandonment of the Bute House Agreement with the toxic Greens – which he was backing just two days before he finally decided to pull the plug – does nothing to undo the immense damage it has caused.

‘Our NHS, schools, police and public services have all been profoundly hit by the spectacular mismanagement of the SNP-Green government under his leadership, and his last minute U-turn offers nothing to repair that.

‘Humza Yousaf now talks about delivering “substantial benefits for people, communities and businesses right across the country”, but he only wants to discuss our “concerns and priorities” now that his job is on the line. 

It is his abject failure to prioritise these issues that has led to a complete lack of confidence in his leadership across the parliament. He should accept his time in power is over and offer his resignation as First Minister.

‘If he doesn’t do so before the Scottish Conservative vote of no confidence in him, his future as First Minister rests on a vote that is so finely balanced that his credibility as a leader will be utterly destroyed, whatever the result.’

Although Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has not yet commented on the letter, he said on Friday: ‘I am more than happy to engage with people of all parties, but it is clear that Humza Yousaf is out of time.’

Mr Yousaf’s conciliatory plea comes just 24 hours after he launched a stinging attack on Labour, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats at FMQs.

He slammed Mr Ross for representing the party of Liz Truss, a Prime Minister ‘outlasted by a lettuce’. 

And he swiftly targeted Mr Sarwar, suggesting he lacked principles and only believed in what Sir Keir Starmer tells him to.

Mr Yousaf then laid into Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton as he dismissed the influence of his party which he said ‘could not even field a five-a-side football team’.

But writing to the leaders on Friday evening, Mr Yousaf said it was ‘important for the people of Scotland that its parliament works well’, as he urged each political group within it to ‘contribute constructively to building consensus for the common good’.

He continued: ‘I recognise the strong feelings in relation to the confidence debate our parliament is set to have next week. 

Notwithstanding that, I am writing to all party groups to ask them to meet me next week to discuss their concerns and priorities, in a hopefully constructive spirit.

‘I would therefore like to invite you to Bute House so we can discuss matters and establish the scope for common ground.’

In order to secure Ms Regan’s vote, he will need to buckle to her demands, particularly on gender, and risk angering other Nationalist MSPs who firmly support the push to bolster trans rights.

But speaking to this newspaper outside his home in Dundee yesterday, he seemed to be open to working with her.

Mr Yousaf said: ‘Ash Regan has written to me and believes there are some areas where we will be able to co-operate.’

He added: ‘I will be speaking to the Greens – Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater – as well as every other party leader.

‘Minority government depends not just on what the government does, but good faith from the opposition too.’