Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf announces his resignation during a statement at Bute House in Edinburgh, April 29, 2024.
Andrew Milligan | Afp | Getty Images
Scottish Prime Minister Humza Yousaf resigned on Monday after his power-sharing deal with the country’s Green Party collapsed.
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Yousaf faced a no-confidence vote that was unlikely to survive after he canceled the deal with the Greens last week.
“When I ended the Bute House agreement in the way I did, I clearly underestimated the extent of the pain and upset I caused my Green colleagues. For a minority government to govern effectively and efficiently, trust in working with the opposition is clearly fundamental,” he said in a press conference on Monday.
He said he had “concluded that restoring relations across the political divide can only be achieved with someone else at the top,” adding that he was “not prepared to abandon my values and principles or with to do business with whomever just to keep power.”
Yousaf said he had asked the SNP to hold a leadership contest as soon as possible and would remain in office until a new leader was appointed. He remains a backbencher – a politician without a government position.
As the first person of color to lead Scotland, Yousaf said it was an “honour” and “privilege” to serve as First Minister.
“People who looked like me didn’t have positions of political influence when he was growing up,” he said.
His decision to end the SNP’s formal partnership with the Greens, in the hope that with their support the SNP would govern as a minority government on some issues, was heavily criticized by Green Party members.
According to the BBC, there have been clashes between the parties in recent weeks after the SNP said it would abandon the current annual and interim targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and replace it with a five-year system.
Scottish politicians are also embroiled in debates over a new hate crime law and proposed changes to gender recognition laws, which have been blocked by Westminster.
The SNP, which failed to win a majority in the 2021 Holyrood election, faces an electoral threat from Labor in national elections due to take place sometime this year.
Under the United Kingdom’s devolved system of government, the Scottish Parliament has control over domestic policy in areas such as the economy, education, health, justice, housing and the environment.
The Scottish National Party wants to break away from the United Kingdom. The measure was defeated in a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. SNP members argue that another poll should be held, particularly because Scotland voted against leaving the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum. The United Kingdom officially left the EU in 2020.
Yousaf has been Scotland’s first minister for just over a year and is taking over from long-time head of government Nicola Sturgeon, who surprisingly announced her resignation in February 2023.
Sturgeon was being investigated by police as part of an investigation into the party’s finances. Her husband, Peter Murrell, was charged with embezzlement earlier this month.
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2024-04-29 12:14:10
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