Tearful Humza Yousaf QUITS admitting he cannot survive Holyrood confidence vote and 'underestimated' backlash from axing coalition with Greens - as SNP plunges deeper into chaos

Humza Yousaf dramatically quit today capping an extraordinary meltdown triggered by sacking his Green coalition partners.

The Scottish First Minister tearfully announced he is resigning after failing to drum up enough support to survive a confidence vote.

Watched by his wife Nadia in Edinburgh, Mr Yousaf conceded he had 'underestimated' the backlash from ditching the Bute House deal. He added: 'I'm not willing to trade my values... simply for retaining power.'

He said the government needed to be led by someone who could bring MSPs together, although he would stay on as interim leader to ensure continuity. 

Choking up as he paid tribute to his family's support, Mr Yousaf said: 'I am in absolute debt to my wonderful wife, my beautiful children and my wider family for putting up with me over the years. I'm afraid you will be seeing a lot more of me from now.

'You are truly everything to me.'

Mr Yousaf spent the weekend frantically wooing MSPs, but concluded there was no way of clinging on. 

Allies insisted the SNP leader had not been willing to 'do a deal with the devil' by agreeing terms with Alex Salmond. Ash Regan, the sole MSP for his Alba Party, and who potentially held the balance at Holyrood, said it was 'bizarre' he would not compromise.

Defeat would have risked sparking a snap election in Scotland, with the separatists fearing big losses to Labour. 

It is a shocking fall from grace for Mr Yousaf, who took over from Nicola Sturgeon barely a year ago.

After he summarily ditched the Greens from the Bute House coalition deal - and publicly humiliated them by making them do a walk of shame in view of cameras - they pledged to back a no confidence motion tabled by the Tories.

It was expected go to a vote later this week. 

Attention now turns to who will succeed Mr Yousaf, with signs former deputy First Minister John Swinney could take over as a caretaker. He admitted earlier it would be a 'difficult' day.

Ex-leadership contender Kate Forbes and minister Jenny Gilruth have also been touted.   

Mr Yousaf said: 'Unfortunately in ending the Bute House Agreement in the matter I did I clearly underestimate the level of hurt and upset that caused Green colleagues.

'For a minority government to be able to govern effectively trust when working with the opposition is clearly fundamental.'

He added a route through the no-confidence vote was 'absolutely possible'.

But he added: 'I am not willing to trade in my values or principles or do deals with whomever simply for retaining power.'

Mr Yousaf went on: 'After spending the weekend reflecting on what is best for my party, for the government and for the country I lead, I've concluded that repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm.

'I have therefore informed the SNP's national secretary of my intention to stand down as party leader.'

He said the SNP's dream of independence seemed 'frustratingly close' - even though most observers regard the cause as having faltered. 

In a long valedictory statement, after which he ignored questions from the media, Mr Yousaf said: 'If only every person in Scotland could be afforded the opportunity of being First Minister for just one day.' 

Mr Swinney is said to have been approached by senior party figures to become an interim First Minister.

Whoever is chosen to replace Mr Yousaf will be the seventh person to hold the post since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999 – as well as being the second person in just over a year to have the top job. 

Green co-leader Patrick Harvie suggested his party could work with another SNP leader, welcoming the 'personal responsibility' Mr Yousaf had taken.

He said: 'Humza Yousaf is right to resign. His position was no longer tenable after he broke the bonds of trust with the Scottish Greens and with everyone who wanted a stable, progressive, pro-independence government. It is regrettable that it has ended this way, it didn't need to. We draw no satisfaction or pleasure from this.

'But the Scottish Greens could no longer have confidence in Humza Yousaf after he chose to unilaterally end the Bute House Agreement. In doing so he let down the large majority of Scottish Green and SNP members who approved the agreement who wanted it to work.

'He chose to end a stable majority government and jeopardised the progressive policy programme that both parties had committed to and were working to deliver.

'It is to his credit that he has taken personal responsibility. Now though is the time to return to some stability.'

But Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said there must be a Holyrood election. 

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said Mr Yousaf had to resign after 'lurching from crisis to crisis'.

'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,' the Tory minister said.

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

Downing Street said the UK government would will work with Mr Yousaf's successor to deliver on 'the real issues that matter to people'. 

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, said: 'Like his predecessors, he spent far too much time obsessing about the break-up of the UK while ignoring the real priorities of people in Scotland, who are living with the failures of 17 years of the SNP in government.' 

Mr Yousaf, who took over from Ms Sturgeon in March 2023, was facing two votes of no confidence, one in him personally from the Tories and another in his government from Labour.

Excluding the presiding officer there are 128 MSPs in total, but the SNP only has 63 votes while the other opposition parties have 65.

Over the weekend Mr Yousaf explored options to convince one of the opposition party MSPs to vote to save his government.   

If he managed to get to 64 votes and tie the vote, the presiding officer would back the status quo, he would have been able to hold on.

The most likely candidate he faced the chance of converting was Ash Regan, the sole MSP in Alex Salmond's Alba Party.

Mr Yousaf previously described her departure from the SNP in October last year as 'no great loss'. 

Ms Regan, a former SNP leadership rival to Mr Yousaf, wrote to him with a list of priorities over the weekend, including 'defending the rights of women and children'. That is thought to mean accepting the results of the Cass review, which criticised gender therapies, in full.

The pair went head-to-head during the SNP leadership campaign, where she called for more extreme independence tactics and expressed her complete opposition to both transgender ideology and the Greens in government. 

Her stance on gender reforms also led her to quit the cabinet during the voting stage in one of the first displays of discontent within the SNP on the trans issue. 

JK Rowling even waded into the row, saying it is 'karma' that the First Minister is now reliant on Ms Regan, who defected to Alba in protest at the SNP's gender ID stance. 

Ms Regan was also pushing for a commitment to invest in the Grangemouth oil refinery, and unilateral moves towards an independence referendum.

Speaking on Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, her boss Mr Salmond effectively laid out his demands, saying a 'top line' of any discussion with Mr Yousaf would be the idea of reviving the Scotland United strategy – which would see a single pro-independence candidate stand in each Scottish constituency.

But those demands seem to have been too much of a cost for Mr Yousaf to bear.

A spokesman for Mr Yousaf dismissed the idea, saying: 'This is fantasy. There is no possibility of the First Minister agreeing any deal like this with Alex Salmond.' 

Talks with the Greens look to have come to nothing, despite an increasingly desperate Mr Yousaf holding out an olive branch and saying he had not 'intended to make them as angry as they are'.

Tensions had been rising between the SNP and Greens over trans and Net Zero policies, but Mr Yousaf's decision to scrap the so-called Bute House agreement was still a bombshell. 

The Bute House Agreement gave the SNP-led government a majority at Holyrood but it came under strain in recent days after the Greens said they would put the future of the deal to a vote by their members.

Some in the Greens were unhappy at the Scottish Government's recent dropping of 2030 climate targets and the decision to pause the prescription of new puberty blockers at Scotland's only gender clinic.

Will 'Wee Free' Kate Forbes mount another bid for the SNP leadership? Or might John Swinney, Jenny Gilruth or Neil Gray be the top choice of party members?

Humza Yousaf has quit as Scotland's First Minister after little more than a year in Bute House.

The SNP leader prompted an extraordinary meltdown by sacking the Scottish Greens as his power-sharing partners at Holyrood.

But Mr Yousaf was then left facing the real possibility of losing a no confidence vote in the Scottish Parliament after the Greens turned against him.

His resignation has left the SNP facing a second divisive leadership contest within less than 18 months.

So, who might consider a bid to replace Mr Yousaf as SNP leader and first minister?

Kate Forbes

Kate Forbes was narrowly defeated by Mr Yousaf in last year's SNP leadership election as the party chose a successor to Nicola Sturgeon.

The 34-year-old secured 48 per cent of the vote to Mr Yousaf's 52 per cent after second preferences were counted.

Ms Forbes was previously the Scottish Government's finance secretary, having become the first woman to hold the post in February 2020.

She went on maternity leave in July 2022 - the first ever serving Scottish Cabinet secretary to do so - and gave birth to her daughter Naomi in August that year.

Ms Forbes, who is married to Ali MacLennan, has been touted as a future SNP leader since entering the Scottish Parliament as MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch in 2016.

The daughter of missionaries, Ms Forbes spent much of her childhood in India.

She is a member of the Free Church of Scotland, sometimes known as the 'Wee Frees', which is opposed to gay marriage and believes there are few circumstances in which abortion is justified.

Ms Forbes has previously said she has been 'guilty' of 'tiptoeing around' her Christian faith in interviews. 

Ms Sturgeon's administration was accused of rushing through its controversial gender identity reforms in late 2022, while Ms Forbes remained on maternity leave, in order to prevent a potential revolt by her.

Jenny Gilruth

Jenny Gilruth is the Scottish Government's education and skills secretary and MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes.

The 39-year-old is married to Kezie Dugdale, the former Scottish Labour leader.

Prior to entering politics, Ms Gilruth was a secondary school teacher in Edinburgh and Dunfermline.

In a stint as Scotland's transport minister between 2022 and 2024, she had to deal with a pay dispute between train drivers and ScotRail bosses.

Ms Gilruth has already been dubbed the 'Stop Kate Forbes' candidate, with it thought allies of Mr Yousaf and Ms Sturgeon could rally round her.

John Swinney

John Swinney was Scotland's deputy first minister in Ms Sturgeon's administration at Holyrood.

The 60-year-old has been an MSP ever since the Scottish Parliament's creation in 1999.

He has held a series of top Cabinet jobs in the Scottish government, including a beleaguered stint as education secretary.

He also deputised as finance secretary during Ms Forbes' maternity leave.

Mr Swinney has been touted as an interim first minister to replace Mr Yousaf while a new SNP leader is chosen, but he might also fancy the job on a full-time basis.

Stephen Flynn 

Stephen Flynn took on the role of SNP Westminster leader in December 2022 following the resignation of Ian Blackford amid the party's internal divisions.

He has been MP for Aberdeen South since 2019 and has made efforts to try and shed claims he is at the heart of a 'laddish' group of SNP politicians in London.

On taking over from Mr Blackford he attacked reports about a 'Tuesday Club' of nationalist MPs.

He said it was 'upsetting' to be linked to a culture of beer and curry - claiming he can 'barely stomach korma'.

The 35-year-old's possible ambitions to succeed Mr Yousaf could be hindered by the fact he does not sit in the Scottish Parliament.

But there is precedent for an MP to lead a Scottish party after Douglas Ross took over as head of the Scottish Tories in 2020.

Mr Ross's predecessor, Ruth Davidson, deputised for him at First Minister's Questions before he was able to take a seat in the Scottish Parliament himself at the 2021 election.

Mr Flynn has recently been exploiting Labour divisions over the Gaza conflict at Westminster, with his SNP MPs vociferously demanding a ceasefire.

On Friday, he suggested he would not stand to be SNP leader if Mr Yousaf were to resign.

He told the BBC: 'I believe that the party leader should have the ability to be first minister of Scotland.

'As you and all your listeners know I am an MP in Westminster, I do not have the ability to be the first minister of Scotland, so I am sure people can read between the lines in that regard.'

Neil Gray

Neil Gray is the Scottish Government's current health secretary and is viewed as a close ally of Mr Yousaf.

The 38-year-old is MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, having previously been MP for the equivalent Westminster seat from 2015 to 2021.

Prior to entering politics, Mr Gray worked as a producer and reporter with BBC Radio Orkney.

He then became an SNP researcher at Holyrood and, later, an MSP's constituency officer manager.

He joined the Scottish Government's ranks in January 2022.

 Angus Robertson

Angus Robertson was touted as a possible replacement for Ms Sturgeon ahead of last year's SNP leadership contest.

The 54-year-old is the Scottish Government's constitution secretary and has experience of leadership within the SNP, having been the party's deputy leader between 2016 and 2018.

He also led the party for almost ten years at Westminster while an MP.

Mr Robertson's spell as the SNP's Westminster leader ended in defeat when he lost his seat at the 2017 general election.

This prompted him to quit as the SNP's deputy leader and he set up a pro-independence think-tank during his time out of elected office.

But he returned to frontline politics at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, when he became MSP for Edinburgh Central.

When he ruled out a bid to replace Ms Sturgeon as first minister, Mr Robertson said: 'As the father of two very young children, the time is not right for me and my family to take on such a huge commitment.'

He added it was a 'privilege and honour' that party colleagues wanted him to take on the job.