Category Archives: The SNP

Humza Yousaf Needs To Unite His Warring Party Before He Can Lead His Country

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Humza Yousaf had better not be a superstitious man.

In a quirk of fate, his winning margin of victory over Kate Forbes in the SNP leadership contest was 52% to 48% – exactly the same result which saw Leave defeat Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Scotland’s first minister-elect (his elevation to the role will be confirmed by the Scottish Parliament tomorrow) will hope that history does not repeat itself in the aftermath of his success.

It has taken nearly seven exhausting years of bitter political battles for the UK to finally begin to come to terms with life outside the EU, although of course many will never reconcile themselves to that reality.

Yousaf must somehow bring his party back together in a much shorter space of time before he can even begin to think about leading his country.

The challenge facing him was perfectly encapsulated by a revealing tweet by SNP MSP Karen Adam.

She told her followers she was “relieved” that Yousaf had won – and, by extension, that Forbes had lost. What’s more, her post was then re-tweeted by the SNP’s official Twitter account.

Karen Adam's tweet - and the SNP's re-tweeting of it - demonstrated the bitter splits in the party.
Karen Adam’s tweet – and the SNP’s re-tweeting of it – demonstrated the bitter splits in the party.

Mike Russell – the SNP’s acting chief executive who admitted the party is in “a tremendous mess” during the leadership contest – was also refreshingly honest in the immediate aftermath of Yousaf’s victory.

Asked by Times Radio if the party could unite behind their new leader, he would only say: “The potential for unity exists.”

The fact remains, however, that despite being the SNP establishment candidate, Yousaf won by just 2,000 votes against a candidate who was roundly pilloried at the start of the campaign over her opposition to gay marriage and having children outside wedlock.

One senior SNP figure pointed out that at the start of the leadership campaign, Yousaf’s approval rating among the public was minus 16. By the end, it was minus 20.

“The more people see of him, the less they like him,” they said.

One MP told HuffPost UK that having failed to win the support of more than half of party members in the first round of voting (he got 48%), uniting the party behind him will be extraordinarily difficult.

“It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of Humza or the campaign he run,” the MP said.

“He’ll also not have enjoyed having to actually work for it. His sense of entitlement is off the charts.”

The fractious nature of the debate served only to highlight the deep divisions which Nicola Sturgeon had managed to keep a lid on for so long.

In his acceptance speech, Yousaf said: “The people of Scotland need independence now more than ever before, and we will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland.”

He may find that bringing together the warring SNP tribes may be a harder task than persuading Scots that their best interests lie outside the United Kingdom.

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Kate Forbes Has ‘Full Confidence’ In SNP Leadership Contest

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SNP leadership candidate Kate Forbes has said she has “full confidence” in the integrity of the bitter campaign to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as first minister.

It came after Peter Murrell, who is Sturgeon’s husband, quit as the party’s chief executive, having served in the role for 20 years.

Murrell said he took responsibility after misleading information was briefed to the media over SNP’s membership numbers.

Earlier this week it emerged that the party had lost 30,000 members in just over a year.

On Thursday the party said membership as of February 15 this year was 72,186, having fallen from 103,884 in 2021.

This corroborated a story in the Sunday Mail in February about the party losing 30,000 members, something it had strongly denied at the time.

Earlier this week two of the candidates seeking to replace Sturgeon, Forbes and Ash Regan, raised concerns about the integrity of the election.

Forbes had called for an independent auditor to asses the leadership contest.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, widely viewed as the favourite for the top job among the party hierarchy, dismissed these as “baseless smears”.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Forbes said she now did “have full confidence and trust in the process”.

The point I made around an independent auditor was to try and give as much
trust and confidence to those that were voting.

“It’s fairly standard common practice when it comes to election contests for there to be that third party independent auditing.

“And I would hope that we can get to the end of this contest knowing that the decisions that SNP members are taking when they vote is the decision that they truly want when it comes to leadership of the party.”

The leadership contest is due to conclude on March 27.

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Kate Forbes Makes It Through To SNP Leadership Run-Off Despite Gay Marriage Row

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Kate Forbes has made it through to the final run-off in the race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader despite the furore caused by her stance on equal marriage.

The Scottish finance secretary will face Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan in a three-horse race to become first minister.

All three made it on to the ballot paper after nominations closed on Friday.

In a separate boost for Forbes, a new poll showed she is the most popular candidate among SNP supporters.

Forbes’s campaign got off to a rocky start after she gave a series of interviews in which she set out her strict religious views.

She revealed that she would have voted against equal marriage had she been an MSP when the law was passed, and that she believed having children outside of marriage was “wrong”.

While Forbes made clear her beliefs were personal and that she would defend any existing rights, her views led to a number of her colleagues withdrawing their support.

She later said she had felt “greatly burdened” by the hurt caused by her media responses, but also questioned whether Scotland had become “so illiberal that we cannot have these discussions”.

According to the poll of SNP members, 28% said they would back Forbes, followed by 20% for Yousaf and 7% for Regan.

The poll, carried out for communications agency the Big Partnership, involved 1,001 Scots who voted SNP in 2021. They were questioned between Monday and Wednesday this week.

It also found that only 5% of SNP supporters think the new leader’s faith or personal beliefs are important, while almost a third still did not know who to back.

This morning, Regan officially launched her campaign with a pledge that under her leadership, every election – either at Holyrood or Westminster – would be treated as a de facto independence referendum.

In an interview with the Herald, she said the SNP had “dismantled” the Yes movement since the independence referendum and that she wanted to give it “back to the people” so the Scottish government can focus on running the country.

Regan was thrust into the limelight earlier this year when she resigned from government in opposition to Sturgeon’s controversial gender reform bill, which has been blocked by Westminster. She has vowed to drop the reforms if she is elected.

Forbes also confirmed that she would not have voted for the government’s gender reforms had she not been on maternity leave when the vote was passed.

The issue separates Regan and Forbes from Yousaf, who is a vocal supporter of trans rights and is largely considered to be the favoured “continuity Sturgeon” candidate.

However, the health secretary has come under fire after he was accused of deliberately missing the vote to legalise gay marriage by setting up a “diary clash” for the same day.

In comments reported by the Independent, Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting claimed it was “common knowledge” that Yousaf was in parliament for the day of the vote.

“It’s all very well being courageous about equality when the battle has been fought and won,” Streeting said. “But where were you, Hamsa, when the battle was ongoing?

“It is perfectly reasonable to ask Yousaf if he supports equal marriage, as he says he does, “why did you abstain in the vote?” — when everyone knows he was in the Scottish parliament that day.”

In response, Yousaf told ITV he missed the vote “for good reason” after he had a meeting with the Pakistan consulate over the case of a Scottish citizen on death row.

He also told Sky News that the issue had been “resurrected” to undermine his position in the leadership contest.

Following the close of nominations, SNP members will take part in a postal vote to choose their next leader, with the winner announced on March 27.

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Nicola Sturgeon Resigns As Scottish First Minister Saying It’s Been A ‘Privilege’

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Nicola Sturgeon has resigned as Scotland’s first minister after more than eight years in the job.

The Scottish National Party leader said she will step down after her successor is elected.

Sturgeon made the announcement at a press conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning saying she had been “wrestling” with the question for some weeks.

“Part of serving well would be to know, almost instinctively, when the time is right to make way for someone else,” Sturgeon said.

“In my head and in my heart I know that time is now. That it is right for me, for my party and for the country.”

Sturgeon has been first minister since November 2014, when she took over from Alex Salmond following the independence referendum.

She has been the country’s longest-serving first minister.

The news came as a surprise after Sturgeon insisted just three weeks ago she was “nowhere near” ready to quit as Scotland’s first minister.

Sturgeon also told the BBC last month she would “like to think” she would be the leader to take Scotland out of the UK.

However, BBC chief political correspondent Nick Eardley reported a source close to her saying: “She’s had enough.”

Sturgeon has recently been embroiled in a row over her government’s attempt to make it easier for people to legally change gender.

The plans have now been blocked by Westminster but triggered a leadership crisis.

Internal dissent, almost unheard of in the SNP, broke out over Sturgeon’s handling of the affair.

Voters also started to make clear their dissatisfaction after a YouGov poll showed Sturgeon’s approval ratings had plummeted to negative territory.

However, during her speech Sturgeon said her decision to resign was “not a reaction to short-term pressures”.

“This decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment,” she said.

Pressed on the row surrounding transgender prisoners, Sturgeon insisted: “No, that issue wasn’t the final straw”.

Sturgeon also confirmed she was “not leaving politics”, adding that she will continue to fight for Scottish independence.

Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central and the party’s home affairs spokesperson, said she was “gutted”.

She tweeted: “Absolutely gutted about this. Nicola has been an incredible leader.”

SNP MP Stewart McDonald described Sturgeon as “the finest public servant of the devolution age”.

“Nicola Sturgeon is the finest public servant of the devolution age,” the MP for Glasgow South tweeted.

“Her public service, personal resilience and commitment to Scotland is unmatched, and she has served our party unlike anyone else. She will be an enormous loss as first minister and SNP leader. Thank you!”

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Nicola Sturgeon Hails ‘Emphatic’ Victory For SNP In Holyrood Elections

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ANDY BUCHANAN via Getty Images

Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon reacts after being declared the winner of the Glasgow Southside seat 

Nicola Sturgeon hailed the SNP’s “record-breaking” victory in the Holyrood elections as she warned Boris Johnson not to block a second independence referendum. 

The first minister said her party had secured an “emphatic” win and Johnson’s continued resistance to a second vote would be “picking a fight with the democratic wishes of the Scottish people”. 

It came as the SNP was on course to win a fourth consecutive term in control of the Scottish Parliament. Though an overall majority looked unlikely for Sturgeon, she was set to continue governing with the support of the pro-independence Scottish Greens. 

She said: “It looks as though it is beyond any doubt that there will be a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament and by any normal standard of democracy that majority should have the commitments it made to the people of Scotland honoured.

“So to any Westminster politician that tries to stand in the way of that, I say two things: firstly, you are not picking a fight with the SNP you are picking a fight with the democratic wishes of the Scottish people.

“And secondly, you will not succeed. The only people who can decide the future of Scotland are the Scottish people and no Westminster politician can or should stand in the way of that.”

The SNP failed to capture Aberdeenshire West from the Tories and the key target seat of Dunbarton, after Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Bailie hung on. 

But the party also made key gains, such as Edinburgh Central, which was captured by former Westminster leader Angus Robertson. 

The SNP leader said: “We have won more constituency seats than we did in the last election, we have won a higher share of the vote in the constituency ballot than in 2016, and actually we have won more votes and a higher share of the vote than any party in the history of devolution.

“By any standard this is a historic achievement, a quite extraordinary achievement for the SNP – our vote share is up, the vote share of the other main parties is down.

“So the SNP has won this election emphatically, the message we took to the people has been endorsed, and I now intend to get back to work to deliver on all of what we put to the Scottish people.”

The SNP has pledged to hold a second independence referendum, with Sturgeon having already said she wants this vote to be held before the end of 2023.

The prime minister has however insisted it would be “irresponsible and reckless” to have such a ballot as Britain emerges from the coronavirus crisis.

Dan KitwoodPA

Prime Minister Boris Johnson 

He told the the Daily Telegraph his impression was that Scottish voters had “moved away from the idea of a referendum”.

And when asked what he would do if Sturgeon attempted to hold one without a Section 30 order from Westminster granting permission, Johnson insisted there was “no case now for such a thing”.

Meanwhile Lorna Slater, the Scottish Greens co-leader, told BBC Scotland: “Certainly we can see that with the Scottish Greens we clearly have a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, and that is something we are very excited about.

“We think it is a clear mandate to at least go back to the Scottish people and ask the question, to have an actual conversation about what kind of country we want to be.”

Her comments came as the regional list seats started to be declared, with the Scottish Greens picking up a seat in Central Scotland for the first time ever.

Earlier on in the day, the Tories had held the key seats of both Aberdeenshire West and Galloway and West Dumfries.

And while Sturgeon’s party made other gains in the constituency votes at Holyrood on Friday, their success in gaining Ayr and East Lothian, from the Tories and Labour respectively, will see them lose MSPs from the South of Scotland regional list.

The coronavirus pandemic meant traditional overnight counts were abandoned after Thursday’s Scottish Parliament election, with counting instead taking place on Friday and Saturday.

Sturgeon, who comfortably defeated Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to claim Glasgow Southside, said afterwards her initial focus would be “to get back to work to steer the country through the crisis and into recovery”.

She added: “That remains the case. But once the crisis is over, and if there is a majority in the parliament for an independence referendum, people should have the right to choose our future. Scotland’s future should always be in Scotland’s hands.”

Meanwhile, former first minister Alex Salmond conceded it is unlikely his new Alba Party will take seats in this election.

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