Now help us defeat the Scottish Government, says Douglas Ross

Humza Yousaf cannot be forgiven for the damage he has done to families in Scotland, Douglas Ross has said.

The Scottish Conservative leader insisted the First Minister was guilty of compounding the misery felt by many Scots already hammered by the cost of living crisis.

In a savage take-down of Mr Yousaf’s record, Mr Ross said the SNP leader’s policies hurt those he had vowed to serve by imposing sky-high taxes and failing to bring down NHS waiting lists.

The Tory bid to hold a vote of no confidence in Mr Yousaf this week helped trigger Mr Yousaf’s resignation as he looked increasingly like losing without the support of the Greens. 

Mr Ross said the Tories had ‘forced Humza Yousaf out of office for repeatedly failing Scotland’.

He added: ‘Faced with our vote of no confidence, the SNP leader has quit rather than face a humiliating defeat.

‘We cannot forgive the damage he did to families and households across Scotland by raising taxes, letting NHS waiting lists spiral and attacking free speech.

‘Humza Yousaf is gone but the SNP remains – and the power to change that is in the hands of Scotland’s voters.

‘Now that we have forced Humza Yousaf out of office, we are asking voters to help us beat the SNP in seats up and down Scotland at the next general election.’

Mr Ross pointed to the unprecedented backlash Mr Yousaf faced over his tax- hiking Budget that has seen people ‘pay more and get less’.

The SNP leader himself admitted he was ‘concerned’ about the impact raising taxes would have on those willing to leave the country to escape his punishing regime.

In a triple whammy, a new 45p income tax band hit earnings above £75,000, the top rate on earnings above £125,140 rose by 1p to 48p, and the higher rate threshold was frozen at £43,663.

The First Minister was also accused of threatening free speech with the introduction of his controversial Hate Crime Act, with particular concern over the number of people who could end up on police databases for involvement in a so-called non-crime hate incident, where a criminal offence has not occurred.

Mr Yousaf, a former health secretary, was also slammed for failing to fix NHS waiting lists, which have hit record levels, while hospitals across the country are dogged by staffing shortages and bed blocking. 

Mr Ross said all this was happening while the SNP continued to waste time, money and resources on producing papers on independence.

He said: ‘The next First Minister must abandon the nationalist obsession with independence and focus solely on Scotland’s top priorities, such as creating jobs and improving our ailing public services.’

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said Mr Yousaf had at last made the right decision to resign as Scotland’s First Minister.

He said: ‘Humza Yousaf’s leadership has lurched from crisis to crisis from the very start, and he could not command the confidence of the Scottish parliament.

‘Scotland now needs a stable, functioning Scottish Government focused on the issues that matter most to people – fixing public services and growing the economy.’

Mr Yousaf doubled down on some of his most unpopular policies in his resignation speech.

He said: ‘As First Minister, I’m incredibly proud to have a fair tax system, the most progressive in the UK, with those who earn the most contribute the most.’

He also claimed that independence ‘feels frustratingly close’.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Humza has gone, and SNP must be driven from office by DOUGLAS ROSSThe whole of Scotland will breathe a sigh of relief that Humza Yousaf has finally realised that the game is up and offered his resignation.

But that’s not enough. The rest of the SNP government must follow as soon as possible. They may be in crisis but, for now, they remain the government.

Humza Yousaf is trying to cling on so that they can pick a new leader. 

We can be sure that, whoever it may be, their number one aim will still be ripping Scotland out of the UK.

They will still ignore Scotland’s real priorities – the NHS, schools, jobs and services.

 They will still depend on the support of the extremist Greens, who were trying to dictate terms yesterday.

And, though they opportunistically backed our motion, both Labour and the Liberal Democrats lined up to back many of the SNP-Green government’s worst measures, including the disastrous gender identity Bill and higher taxes.

No one who cares about the future of Scotland can relax until the SNP are driven from office. 

Only the Scottish Conservatives have a robust record in genuine opposition. We have seen off Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf.

In many seats it’s a straight choice between us and the SNP. We are making substantial gains – as we did last week in the Arbroath West by-election, a thumping win in a previous Nat stronghold.

We won’t let up until we’ve seen the back of this disastrous government.

W HILE, on a personal level, I wish Humza Yousaf and his family well, there is no disguising the fact he has been an unmitigated disaster since he took office.

Attention has naturally focused on the chaos that has engulfed him and his SNP government since last Thursday, when he ditched his agreement with the Greens and I tabled a motion of no confidence in him as First Minister.

The prospect of a vote on that motion – a vote that he was bound to lose, having lost the confidence of everyone outside his own party – was what finally resulted in his statement yesterday.

But even before we forced the issue, chaos has been the hallmark of Humza Yousaf’s parliamentary career.

As First Minister, he lurched from crisis to crisis, as he had done as a minister.

Having failed as transport, justice and health secretary, he failed his way into the top job by promising to be the ‘continuity candidate’. 

From the moment of his election, that meant pushing a legacy mired in scandal and a programme which had caused profound damage to Scotland’s economy and essential services.

A series of ill-conceived and divisive policies that were disintegrating throughout his time in office. A legacy described yesterday by a former deputy leader of the SNP as ‘less than mediocre’.

There was hardly a day on which his judgment was less than catastrophic.

That began by continuing to deal with the Greens, a bunch of far-Left zealots opposed to economic growth and obsessed by infantile positions on highly marginal and contentious issues.

The irony is when he finally did the right thing and ditched them – to preserve his own personal position – it served only to illustrate his weakness and unfitness for office.

His policies were always botched. But it’s the policies themselves that are destroying Scotland.

They include the abandonment of oil and gas jobs, endangering our energy security, undermining a crucial component of Scotland’s economy.

Broken manifesto promises to complete the much-needed dualling of the A9 and A96, which has betrayed local communities and cost lives.

Rent controls which decimated the amount of accommodation available with a huge rise in rents.

Housing emergencies in our two largest cities and other council areas.

Rural Scotland – undermined and forgotten, with the SNP ignoring warnings about land management and wildlife regulations.

The removal of the First Minister doesn’t end the threat from the SNP, who will still push their independence obsession at the price of the real priorities.

It won’t make Labour and the Liberal Democrats less likely meekly to line up with any replacement administration on a host of deeply damaging policies.

The rest of the SNP must follow Humza Yousaf out the door. And it’s the Scottish Conservatives who can deliver that.