Newly elected Scottish National Party leader Humza Yousaf speaks after being announced new SNP leader, at Murrayfield Stadium, in Edinburgh, Scotland (Image: AP Photo)
Yousaf is seen as ‘continuity Sturgeon’ leader and is poised to carry on with her liberal policies but will he be able to take Scotland out of UK?
The Scottish National Party (SNP) elected Humza Yousaf as its new leader on Monday. Yousaf becomes the first person of colour and the first Muslim to lead Scotland, a nation of 5.5 million people.
Elected as leader of @theSNP is the biggest honour of my life. If Parliament votes for me as FM tomorrow, it is my solemn commitment to serve all the people of Scotland. For now, after a long day I have promised a v sleepy 3yr old I will be telling her tonight’s bed time story.
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) March 27, 2023
“I will lead the SNP in the interests of all party members, not just those who voted for me, so I will lead Scotland in the interests of all our citizens whatever your political allegiance,” Yusuf said after winning the polls.
Yousaf defeated Kate Forbes, a conservative-leaning leader of the SNP, in an electoral battle that exposed how divided the SNP are and also showing how hard their mission to Scotland out of the United Kingdom is going to get.
Humza, whose grandparents emigrated from Pakistan’s Punjab, will assume his role as first minister during a session of the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh on Tuesday.
I pay tribute to all 3 candidates for @theSNP leadership for rising to the challenge. Most of all I congratulate @HumzaYousaf and wish him every success. He will be an outstanding leader & First Minister and I could not be prouder to have him succeed me.— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) March 27, 2023
Speaking at his acceptance speech, Humza spoke about his immigrant experience: “They couldn’t have imagined, in their wildest dreams, that two generations later their grandson would one day be Scotland’s first minister.”
“We should all take pride in the fact that today we have sent a clear message: that your colour of skin, your faith, is not a barrier to leading the country we all call home,” Yousaf said.
He holds the portfolio of Scotland’s health minister and beat Forbes and Ash Regan to replace First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Sturgeon led Scotland for the last eight years but stepped down abruptly last month. Forbes, who is Scotland’s finance minister, won 48% of the votes.
Third-placed Ash Regan was eliminated in the first vote. The turnout among the 72,000 members was 70%.
A report by the Associated Press pointed out that Yousaf is widely seen as a “continuity Sturgeon” candidate and shares liberal social views.
He faces a challenge of uniting the party that Sturgeon once made mainstream as it remains divided over issues related to culture and gender, following Sturgeon’s support for transgender rights law, which sparked a debate in Scotland.
However, Yousaf has promised to push forward the bill which transgender activists have hailed but has attracted criticism from SNP members who said it ignored the need to protect single-sex spaces for women, such as domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers.
His party holds 64 of the 129 seats in the Scottish parliament and is a coalition partner of the Greens, who hold far fewer seats.
The other priority is Scottish Independence and permission for a second Scottish referendum, which the office of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, clearly said will not entertain.
People are evenly split on the Scottish Independence movement but want Yousaf to focus on social and economic issues like cost of living crisis, getting economic growth and improving public services.
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