At approximately 0700 EST this morning, embattled Scottish First Minister Yousaf resigned as the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and announced he would vacate the position as First Minister as soon as a replacement could be named. He said he was “not willing to trade [his] values and principles, or do deals with whomever, simply for retaining power.” A no-coincidence vote was supposed to be scheduled for May 1st, 2024.
The Resignation
BREAKING: Humza Yousaf announces he is standing down as SNP leader after a tumultuous few days at Holyrood – he will stay on as Scottish first minister until his successor is confirmed.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) April 29, 2024
For the last twenty-four hours, Yousaf attempted to enter into negotiations with party leaders, especially the Greens of which the SNP has been sharing power with since the signing of the Bute House Agreement in 2021. However, Greens Co Leader Slater announced that she doubted anything could be said to change the minds of her party members, signaling that the no-confidence vote, lodged by Labour Leader Sarwar, would stand and he would probably lose.
Scottish Greens co-leader @lornaslater responds to the First Minister’s offer of a meeting
She’s happy to consider it but doesn’t think there’s anything @HumzaYousaf can say to make Greens change their minds
Also undecided on the Scottish Labour motion of no confidence in Govt https://t.co/sKhtXjQx6t pic.twitter.com/ETj3PNoM3b
— Alan Smith (@Political_AlanS) April 26, 2024
This government crisis stemmed from First Minister Yousaf blowing up the Bute Hose Agreement which averted a hung parliament back in 2021 when the SNP failed to achieve Parliamentary majority by one vote. The agreement allowed the SNP (64 seats) and the Greens (8) seats to dominate the Scottish Parliament over the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Labour.
SNP and Greens Growing Divisions
However, on April 25th, 2024, Yousaf ended the popular agreement after Greens criticism of Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy Màiri McAllan scrapping environmental reform on April 18th, 2024. Since the former SNP leader Sturgeon resigned on February 15th, 2023 and her husband’s arrest on April 18th, 2024, SNP has been bucking the First Minister and vowed to “lead without the Greens.” The foremost critics of the power sharing agreement have been MPs Kate Forbes and Ash Regan who have been renouncing the initiatives of the Greens. Minister Ewing of SNP also denounced the Greens as a “small fringe group of extremists” The Greens also stated that they would not follow an SNP leader that did not “embrace progressive values”.
It is almost certain that when a new First Minister is named, they will not have majority support in Parliament. An election is expected later this year.
