Scottish First Minister resigns after power sharing terminated

7 months ago 29

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf announced on Monday (29 April) that he will leave office following his decision to dissolve the governing coalition between his Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) and the Scottish Greens last week.

The Bute House power-sharing agreement, a union between pro-independence parties, ended, in part, because the SNP backtracked on 2030 emissions goals.

“I believed ending the Bute House Agreement was the right one for the party I lead and I still do believe that to be the case,” Yousaf told a press conference Monday. “I believe it was the right decision for the country.”

Yousaf said he had intended to stay on as first minister, leading Scotland and the SNP in a minority government while working with the Greens in a “less formal arrangement.”

“Unfortunately, in ending the Bute House Agreement in the manner that I did, I clearly underestimated the level of hurt and upset I caused Green colleagues,” Yousaf said.

It was becoming clear that Yousaf and the SNP were struggling to govern as a minority, however: Scottish opposition parties called for confidence votes against Yousaf and his party, and the Greens were not expected to give Yousaf their backing.

The BBC reported that the leader of the pro-independence Alba party, Alex Salmond, suggested Alba could help Yousaf survive a confidence vote if the SNP helped increase the number of pro-independence lawmakers or support Alba’s legislative priorities, but Yousaf did not agree to that.

Assuming all other MPs would have voted against him, Yousaf, whose SNP has 63 seats in the 129-seat Scottish parliament, would have needed the backing of Alba MP Ash Regan for a 64-64 draw on the confidence vote. The presiding officer was expected to have cast the tie-breaking vote in favour of Yousaf.

“For a minority government to be able to govern effectively and efficiently, trust when working with the opposition is clearly fundamental,” Yousaf said.

“And while a route through this week’s motion of no confidence was absolutely possible, I am not willing to trade my values and principles or do deals with whomever simply for retaining power.”

SNP lawmakers have 28 days to select a new leader before they are required to hold an election. Yousaf called upon Lorna Finna, SNP national secretary, to commence a leadership contest as soon as possible. Yousaf will remain in his post until a successor is elected.

The BBC also reported that the Scottish Labour MPs would keep the confidence motion against the government on the table even if Yousaf resigned.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]